I got my copy of the Time Magazine this morning, the issue after the recent election in the United States. Of course, the front-page picture is that of the new president elect, Barack Obama. The caption: “Change has come to America.”
The last US election campaign had been the main news in the previous three months. It caught the interest of many Canadians, at times, more than the local federal elections. There seemed to have been more excitement in the US events in September and October than in the exchange among the Canadian candidates in the October election.
There were several reasons for this focus of attention on the United States. The US candidates seemed to be more colourful. The global economic downfall started in Wall Street This economic debacle had a great impact in the US election. While Barack Obama had made the “Need for Change” the focus of his campaign speeches before September 30, 2008, the force of that slogan gained extraordinary momentum on that last Tuesday of the ninth month when stocks tumbled, first at Wall Street and than all around the world. To say that the US candidates were colourful would be both literal and literary. That was the first time in the history of this country that a major political party had a Black candidate for president. To think that the residents of the White House would be a black family was something most Americans and even people outside the United States thought was an impossibility.
And yet in the evening of November 4, 2008, more than a thousand people stood outside the gates of the White House shouting, “Yes, we can” where a century ago, it was considered scandalous for a president to invite a Black hero to lunch (Time Magazine, Nov 17,2008, pg 19).
The US president-elect is a colourful personality far beyond the tint of his skin. His life has been very different from the usual pattern of past presidents of the United States. A grandmother brought him up and in that he could relate to many Blacks and other races wherein the extended family plays an important part in the upbringing of children. While Barack Obama gives a lot of credit to his grandmother for what he is now, it cannot be denied that it is his own individual drive in the pursuit of his goals in life that brought him where he is today. But he has and still emphasizing the role of the home in bringing up children and instilling in them the patience and perseverance in working one’s way wherever one wants to be. And of course, at the same time, he has pointed out all this time that it is in the United States of America wherein one can dream and work towards the achievement of that hope.
In talking about colourful candidates let us be impartial. John McCain has lived more years and can count many glorious achievements in war and in peace. But this is not his time anymore. He carried with him the baggage of a failed government that is being blamed for the present economic crisis and the fatigue and sorrow for two long expensive wars.
Bringing in a woman and an indeed a dynamic personality as vice-presidential candidate added a lot of colour to the election campaign, Sarah Palin is indeed a woman of exemplary accomplishments. It was the hope of her party to be able to get the women votes that were formerly Hillary Clinton’s but that did not happen. I for one, was turned off, when she declared in her first speech that the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull was lipstick. I happen to be scared of pit bulls.
So what made Barack Obama win? What were the forces that brought this change to America?
Earlier during this year, I attended a party wherein some of the guests were Filipinos form the United States. This was before Barack Obama won the nomination for president in the Democratic Party.
“O ano,” I asked the three Filipinos from the United States at my table, “Sinong iboboto ninyo? Si Obama ba?”
“Naku, mahirap sigurong lumabas si’Obama. Sa pangalang pangalan na lamang. Parang malapit sa O sama.”
Indeed, his name alone was one barrier he had to cross. Among the prominent Backs now and in the past the names have not sounded foreign: Booker T. Washington, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King and that lady who would not move to the back of the bus – Rosa Parks. Here in Canada, the former Black lieutenant – governor of Ontario was Lincoln Alexander. Barack Obama’s political opponents tried to use his name to infer that probably it was something that voters should be wary about, considering too, that his middle name is Hussein.
Barack Obama traveled a long rough road with just a few at his side at the beginning, gathering momentum as he plodded on. His tenacity and formidable courage in the face of countless odds, little by little, called the attention of people who have clout and power in America. There was Oprah Winfrey, another Black dreamer who was able to reach her star, and political stalwarts like Edward Kennedy and the daughter of the late US president John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy who endorsed Barack Obama early in the race.
Barack Obama started his political career as a community organizer. His experience in that job had tremendously helped him in this arduous task. He was able to draw out the interest of women and youth and most important the segment of the American society who were disinterested and never voted. With the growing hordes of volunteers and the untiring efforts of his wife Michelle, thousands who had never voted before came out to register. Even the homeless were convinced to go and register. “ A judge in Ohio ruled that homeless people could use a park bench as their address in order to register” (Time Magazine, November 17,2008, pg 18).
Another important asset of this man was his ability to put in simple words that everybody can comprehend what exactly he wants to do if elected president. He never lost his cool even at the time when a barrage of attacks from opponents came his way. He could turn insults into compliments and has the ability to laugh at himself.
In his victory speech on election night, President-elect Barack Obama made it clear that he will be president of the United States of America, not only of those people who voted for him but all: White, Black, Latinos, Asians, multicultural and multigenerational.
I, for one feel very fortunate that this chapter in American history happened in my lifetime. I felt very privileged that I could sit cozily in my family room and witness this unprecedented event, through the convenience of technology. And I feel that I am a part of this great change, even if I am not an American. I am here in North America wherein racism and discrimination are still realities. But this change is the proof that there are hope and opportunities in this part of the world if one is willing to work hard. There are a great number of people of Filipino origin in the United States and in Canada who must join in the challenge. This part of the world is indeed a land of opportunity. The younger generations of Filipinos must take a part in this change. They have the capacity as well as the opportunity. In a recent Statistics Canada Survey (Metro Sept.26-28, 2008, p10) it was revealed, “mothers and fathers from the Philippines had the highest rates of university education and their children’s level were 12 percent higher than the kids of Canadian born parents.”
Education is not enough. Persistence and hard work are the main ingredients in attaining success.