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Barack Obama: the quiet revolution

Wednesday 05 November 2008

Elected the first black president of the United States,

Barack Obama, 47, has reclaimed the American dream

he defended throughout his campaign. Ambitious and

charismatic, the Democrat has vowed to be a leader for

all Americans.

Its the story of a man who reclaimed the American dream. At 47, Barack Obama, who wasunknown to the public only a few years ago, became the first African-American citizen to beelected president of the United States. The man who promised that dreams could still come true,and that change could come, can now fully enjoy his victory.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible,who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power ofour democracy, tonight is your answer, he told the huge crowd gathered at Chicagos GrantPark.

On stage, with his wife Michelle and his daughters Malia and Sasha, he offered the world animage of a new America.

Barack Obama, the story of an ambitious, talented man with lots of charisma

He came into the limelight in July, 2004. The Democrats were holding their national conventionbefore the presidential election and the local Chicago official came on the stage to support JohnKerry, electrifying the hall.

His speech, but also his dignified appearance and clear and profound voice, conquered theaudience. The senator from Illinois developed a rhetoric he would complete and repeatedly comeback to.

Theres no right wing or conservative America, theres the United States of America, herepeated. Theres no black America, white America, Latino or Asian America, theres the United

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States of America. We are one nation.

National reconciliation

Throughout the campaign, Obama has pleaded for reconciliation between Americans,

over differences, skin colour, sex and age.

Born in Hawaii to a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, he has

always rejected traditional community formats, refusing to be labeled as a community

candidate. He therefore has rarely addressed racial issues, poverty in the black

community and the high incarceration rate.

Nevertheless, Obama is part of an American history in which segregation, slavery and

injustice are all still remembered and deeply rooted. He may be inspired by JohnKennedy, his achievements, youth and attraction, but his true heroes are Abraham

Lincoln and Martin Luther King.

This is the heritage the public had in mind when Obama invoked 106-year-old AnnNixon Cooper, a black voter from Atlanta.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road

or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldnt vote for two reasons because she

was a woman and because of the colour of her skin.

I wont be a perfect president

When Barack Obama presents his past, he likes to tell the story of a young middle-classboy. Raised by his mother in Indonesia and in Hawaii by his grandparents, he grew up in

a modest home. He then left for New York to study political science and internationalrelations at Columbia. Rather than starting his career on Wall Street, he chose to work asa social worker in Chicagos impoverished neighbourhoods. He then went to Harvard

Law School and became, in 1991, the first black editor-in-chief of the prestigious

Harvard Law Review.

Then came Michelle. Back in Chicago, and now a lawyer, Obama met his future wife in a

prestigious law firm that had hired him. After losing an initial election to the House of

Representatives in 2000, his political career picked up speed. In 2004 he became the firstblack senator in Congress.

Barack Obamas victory in the race to the White House blew a wind of hope throughoutthe world and in the US, but he now has countless challenges ahead of him.

Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are thegreatest of our lifetime two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a

century.

He has four years to show what hes really capable of, and the first months will probably

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have a honeymoon taste.

I wont be a perfect president, he had warned during the campaign, but promised this: I

will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you,

especially when we disagree.