November 4th 2008. Perhaps one of the most joyous occasions for any true citizens of the world. The day when I watched as people of every creed and colour turned out in their tens of thousands at Chicago's Grant Park in a celebration that mirrored the jubilant scenes scattered across the world from Kansas to Kenya, Kilimanjaro to Kathmandu. The day when a man whose roots lie in places as diverse as Kogelo, Hawaii and Indonesia was freely and fairly elected to the highest office imaginable.The day when the United States of America, after 222 years of Independence, finally embraced the words enshrined in the text of the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". Never before have these truths been more self-evident. Never before has the pursuit of happiness seemed such a level playing field.

Forty years after the death of Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights Activist and youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, the natural successor to his oratorical mantle, and a living testament to the realisation of his Dream has been elected President of the United States of America, putting America once again at the forefront of progressive thought. The American Dream legend which promises success to anyone with ambition and will was previously confined to economic achievement- anyone and everyone could achieve fame and fortune. Tiger Woods, an African American, is the richest sportsman in the world and icon for a generation; Bill Gates who did not graduate from University went on to conceive and midwife the birth of the biggest software manufacturer in the world; A generation on, Mark Zuckerberg repeated the feat with the online social networking phenomenon facebook. Succinctly, America became the land of opportunity,a modern Canaan. But before now, this truth has not been as self-evident in the hermetic sphere of politics. With the election of Obama, the walls of Jericho have come crashing down.

However, one must consider that perhaps the grandeur of the American Nation has supersized the scale of events. The sheer weight of the history of four hundred-odd years of slavery recontextualises the election of a black man as president of the greatest-ever democracy as a final monument to the triumph of the beauty of the human spirit over prejudice. However, in terms of surmounting the gulfs in society and suturing the cleavages imposed by class difference, gender inequality and racial dichotomy, the USA has been playing catch up for a while now.

As far back as 1979, Margaret Thatcher (now a Baroness) was elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom a Union which is today still guilty of severe inequalities in some of its political institutions. She went on to rule commendably, spending the entirety of the eighties holding fort in 10 Downing Street until ousted by Party in-fighting in 1992. The significance of the Iron Lady's role in bending the rules of gender that once forced the great writer Mary Ann Evans to write under the male nom de plume, George Elliot, cannot be underplayed and her election anticipated the arrival of female leaders on the mainstream European continent. Today, we can number Germany's current Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc as European Heads of State alongside Cristina Kirchner, Michele Bachelet and Elena Johnson- Sirleaf the respective leaders of Argentina, Chile and Liberia respectively, among others. Nancy Astor once declared: "No one sex can govern alone. I believe that one of the reasons why civilization has failed so lamentably is that is had one-sided government." Now, that statement is slowly being revised as the balance between the sexes is addressed positively.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Da Silva's story is a stereotypical rags to riches story normally credited to the power of the American Dream. Lula, as he is fondly known, was abandoned by his father and did not make it through formal education past the age of ten, thriving in manual labour from the age of twelve as a shoeshine boy, in a similar story to that other Brazilian icon, football star Pele. Working his way through the ranks in trade unions, Lula eventually founded the Workers' Party and his efforts culminated in election as President in 2002. It is a story that is rich with pathos, endearing the common man and one symbolising the re-jigging of the lines that firmly demarcate disequilibrium in class.

The crossing of racial borders is never more aptly demonstrated than in Nelson Mandela's election as President of South Africa which until 1994, had withered in the grip of Minority white rule. The subjugation and intolerance of the successive regimes that flourished in post-colonial South Africa was violent and hard to bear, claiming many innocent lives. Mandela, whose struggle is chronicled in his biography, "A Long Walk To Freedom", was incarcerated unjustly in sub- spartan conditions on Robben Island from where he continued to organise the Movement for Freedom. Today he remains a symbol of hope, peace and change to whom even Barack Obama would aspire. It is a story that happened several miles beyond the remit of the United States.

Nonetheless, the Obama victory march will resound across every corner of the globe for its poignancy, its elaborate simplicity. Obama did not deploy a rallying cry to the victimised and oppressed to create a symphony of sympathy for his campaign. He did not seek the blessings of the Capitol Hill elite. He, instead, resorted to the time-tested means of revolutionary organisation. He aroused the grassroots imagination, drawing together people of all ages, all shapes, all sizes under the umbrella of a fundamental desire for a marked depature from the ordinary approach to governance adopted in America. He worked the youth, the man-on-the-street, without disappointing or alienating the more comfortable and united them all in a faith that there could be change. For this, he deserves all the garlands with which he has been decorated, all the epithets which have lined his path to the White House.

Robot  Villager

# 1 However, in terms of surmounting the gulfs in society and suturing the cleavages imposed by class difference, gender inequality and racial dichotomy, the USA has been playing catch up for a while now....Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 12.11.2008 20:22

Dewdrops  Villager

# 2 =Robot;289332>However, in terms of surmounting the gulfs in society and suturing the cleavages imposed by class difference, gender inequality and racial dichotomy, the USA has been playing catch up for a while now....Read the full article. However, one must consider that perhaps the grandeur of the American Nation has supersized the scale of events. The sheer weight of the history of four hundred-odd years of slavery recontextualises the election of a black man as president of the greatest-ever democracy as a final monument to the triumph of the beauty of the human spirit over prejudice. However, in terms of surmounting the gulfs in society and suturing the cleavages imposed by class difference, gender inequality and racial dichotomy, the USA has been playing catch up for a while now. Ain't this a pickle?:D So which wan Africa dey play with the same 400 years of exporting slaves and Sharia law? Run-Down or Way-Lay Me? Posted by Dewdrops| 12.11.2008 23:27

Auspicious  Villager

# 3 =Dewdrops;289381>Ain't this a pickle?:D So which wan Africa dey play with the same 400 years of exporting slaves and Sharia law? Catch-down or Way-Lay Me? :D :D :D Na, dat wan pass Pickle. It is a PICKLESES. :lol: Auspy. Posted by Auspicious| 12.11.2008 23:30

Abujaboy  Villager

# 4 Well, the writer failed in one of the most basic tasks of prose: making the headline connect to the text. Playing catch-up? How? And who does America lag behind in the matter? Four hundred years of slavery in the the U.S.? :source That would mean slaves held there starting in 1460 or so. Please, we understand the article was merely a vehicle for more praise and adulation of Obama. Just come out and say so, then, instead of piling silly claim on top of silly claim -- and it's "George Eliot", not "Elliot". Posted by Abujaboy| 13.11.2008 09:21

Deebee  Villager

# 5 =Abujaboy;289488>Well, the writer failed in one of the most basic tasks of prose: making the headline connect to the text. Playing catch-up? How? And who does America lag behind in the matter? Four hundred years of slavery in the the U.S.? :source That would mean slaves held there starting in 1460 or so. Please, we understand the article was merely a vehicle for more praise and adulation of Obama. Just come out and say so, then, instead of piling silly claim on top of silly claim -- and it's "George Eliot", not "Elliot". Yeah, more praise for Obama - and why not? Anyway, I don't think America is "playing catch-up" (and in this, your questions are right on!) America is setting the pace, not following it. Electing a female leader (as happened with Thatcher in Britain) is not sufficient evidence of the attainment of gender equality, nor is it the only way to demonstrate some level of it. Furthermore, which is more important? Gender equality in politics or racial equality? I think American Democrats realized that it was probably more important to elect a "black" man than a white woman. This likely played a role in the primaries. However, these attainments are usually more symbolic than anything else - but the symbolism is important, nevertheless. Those who pushed Obama's candidacy were trying to accomplish many things all at once and with as little risk to their efforts and the sensitive racial tensions as possible. For instance, following Bush's aggression, they felt it was time to put a more likeable face to represent America on the international scene. Secondly, a black First Family would unite the country more than a return to the Clinton White House years. Thirdly, virtually everyone was really fed up with the direction the country and the world seemed to be headed - and patience was wearing thin for the war efforts. For those who are observant and prudent enough, Obama's election is not the total emancipation of the black man that some are almost suggesting it is. Obama was a compromise candidate (a descendant of both blacks and whites). I'm sure Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton feel a little uneasy that a "fully black" man was not elected. The complexity of this assertion is that this suggests America has still not overcome racial issues (and it will be quite naiive to suggest otherwise). If Obama had been fully black, quite a number of whites who voted for him would not have. Regardless, it is a pace-setting victory for American politics. After all, no other developed nation has given as much symbolism to racial equality as America has (and ironically, almost no other nation has enslaved the black man as much! I tell you, from my conversations with many white voters in the U.S., most of them voted for Obama because they wanted to show the world that Americans are not racists). On the other hand, I have many friends and relatives who either have lived or now live in Europe, and their experiences of racism at the hands of these Europeans is alarming, to say the least. Europeans are much less tolerant of blacks than American whites are. Let us, as Africans, be wise enough to apply the lessons from this episode to our continent. If America (like the author suggested) is playing catch-up, what is Nigeria playing? "Catch-nothing"? Is our tribalism less severe than the racism in Europe and America? What are the racist bigots all over the country doing to promote unity? What about official corruption and the alarming state of Nigeria's and Africa's infrastructure? What about the fact that blacks are seen as being at the very bottom of the intellectual and moral totem pole worldwide? These are the real issues that face the black race. I pity those who allow Obama's victory to becloud our judgment about our own country and continent. We lag behind in just about everything good. This, to me, is the most important issue. Posted by Deebee| 13.11.2008 11:59

Nnamdi Awa-kalu  JJC

# 6 Dear Sir, I do apologise for any discomfort the article might have caused you. However I must point out the pivotal sentence located in the third paragraph: "However, in terms of surmounting the gulfs in society and suturing the cleavages imposed by class difference, gender inequality and racial dichotomy, the USA has been playing catch up for a while now." As for the typo on George Eliot's name, profound apologies again. Posted by Nnamdi Awa-kalu| 13.11.2008 16:52