The American dream of the Founding Fathers was to make their New World haven a great nation. On November 4, 2008, a predominantly white country unveiled a shining facet of a great nation by electing the first African-American as their president.
For Barack Hussein Obama, the road to the White House was not a cakewalk. In his acceptance speech after winning the Democratic Party nomination, he said, “I do not fit the pedigree for the American President.” The comment implied a lingering doubt that a mixed ancestry, a chequered childhood and a name with a cosmopolitan flavour – the first part sounding Biblical, the second Arabic and the third Kenyan – would not go down favourably with the public.
Not surprisingly, Barack Obama was at the receiving end of many racial taunts and religious jibes. Always unruffled, he dealt with them in his own inimitable style. Pettiness and prejudice have been rejected. Post-racial America has certainly come of age. The American nation has risen to new heights of maturity, and can now be truly called a land of hope, liberty and equal opportunity.
The new president is up against great odds: an economy in crisis and two foreign wars with no end in sight. To judge from the media, not only America but the whole world is wishing this man well, and hoping fervently that he will make a difference in guiding the superpower in this turbulent world.
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