Inspirational Politics...

Today morning, I woke up to the news that 'change' had come to America. After 8 years of Republican governance, the Democrats had captured the Presidency, the House and the Senate. I watched Prez-elect Obama on TV, delivering his post-victory speech and I was seriously moved. This man, who in his own words is a 'skinny young man with a funny name' had inspired millions of Americans to turn out in large numbers and elect him to the Oval Office with a resounding majority. What, I thought, is so different about this 48 year old, African-American that has brought the winds of change to the US ?

Barack Obama is indeed the right man at the right time. Irrespective of the predicted negative effect the Obama presidency will have on India, I admire him for some changes he has brought about in the US and in my mind even before he has taken up office.

Obama has very shrewdly used the discontent created by the Bush administration in his favour. He was on-the-ball when he equated his competitor McCain's projected policies with the Bush policies. He moved the hearts of the millions of American families who have sons fighting the war in Iraq, by promising to withdraw troops according to a well-structured plan. He inspired the youth to vote, and touched the hearts of the common man.

This can be seen by the massive turnouts his rallies saw, the largest number of small contributions raising one of the highest number of monetary contributions for a candidate and the young and old who turned out in droves to volunteer for spreading his campaign.

Because of his heritage, the blacks, Asians and Hispanics dared to believe that this man was their answer to racial prejudice. But he didnt alienate the whites and that says a lot about his people skills. Obama's oratory infused energy in the masses, his urging the people to embrace change paid off.

For me, following this election has been a great experience. Never in India do we get to vote for one person as our executive. I believe for a people to express their majority opinion, a two-party system is the best bet. In India, we end up voting for a small party which forms a coalition with different parties and a different government than we had voted for comes in power and again, we play no direct role in electing our executive. Never in India do we see the common public so enthused and so inspired by any candidate because our election system does not project any candidate as our future executive.

As Tagore said, our country has awakened in the Heaven of Freedom, our democracy is population-wise the largest in the world, but in principle is it so ? Why does our youth never feel inspired enough to take an active part in the country's politics ? Why do we still continue to elect old and unqualified people, sometimes convicted criminals to run our nation ? Why can we not start our own version of 'change' even at the grass-root levels ? India has it's own 'Obamas' but do we notice them ?

Obama rightly said, this victory is not the change itself, it is the chance for the people to bring about the change. There are many people in India who want this chance too. But with this state of affairs I can hardly hope to get the chance. And again, Obama comes to my rescue. At one of his campaign rallies he made this statement, and I believe we should take something from it. He said, " Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, work for it and fight for it."

And so I can only hope and act on another US President from Illinois Abraham Lincoln's words, " I WILL PREPARE, AND SOMEDAY, MY CHANCE WILL COME."