The day of reckoning

My Sixth Form questioned my sanity today when I plowed on with our work on representative democracy. What was I doing when the most important and hotly contested elections was taking place 'across the pond'? I must admit that I was easily diverted onto tangents as the pupils asked me all sorts of questions about the election taking place today. The truth is that (and this is no understatement), today is potentially not the most important day in recent political history, but AMERICAN history (all US history is 'recent'). The point is simple; America stands on the cusp of electing a black man as president. I repeat; AMERICA STANDS ON THE CUSP OF ELECTING A BLACK MAN AS PRESIDENT. This is the same country where, 40 years ago, a black man could not wander round the deep South without fear of being lynched. A place where, as a black man or woman, you couldn't sit on the same seat, drink in the same bar, piss in the same toilet (!!) as a white man or woman as little as forty years ago.

The 'separate but equal' doctrine was the most deplorable addition to the US statute book in the country's short history. In WW2, black and white men fought in separate regiments. It's 40 years since King made his speech and to be honest, with the weight of all this history, it seems almost unbelievable, almost too early, for America to be electing a black president.

But here we are. I make no apologies for being excited. This isn't anorak, politics geek stuff. This is progress, a giant leap forward on the road towards equality. IF Obama is elected, everyone will be able to say where they were the day America elected its first black president. And for a country that has slipped into the shadows of criminality and misgovernment over the last 8 years, it will seem even more like a new beginning. One thing that three years of uni study of American history/politics taught me is that America, for all its plusses, has a not particularly admirable history when it comes to intolerance - from immigrants, to negroes, to communists - all have fallen victim to conservatives and reactionaries who form the backbone of the much divided American body-politic. Thankfully, the side that I agree with now appears to be in the ascendant and should elect a man who, like FDR and JFK before him, will signal change for America.

True, he will face a mammoth task, what with the financial crisis and the weight of expectation. I personally feel that he'll have to watch his own back too - he's probably going to be an even bigger assassination target than Bush - the latter didn't particularly rile the skinheads - Obama is their worst nightmare. His name sounds like Osama and his middle name is Hussein for god's sake!

Anyway, all in all I'm happy - go Obama, go!