Election Day

Just a quick one, seeing as this has been a topic that's been a major part of my life for the past 18months, and I really could go on about it forever . . . but I have a French class in an hour and work not yet finished, so . . . .

It's the big day, and I am a bundle of nerves, all tingles and anticipation :) This whole campaign has been like something out of a film, and I still find it so exciting to see bloggers, you-tube users, twitterers and people of all ages from across the globe so caught up in the presidential race. As a massive Obama supporter the whole thing has a surreal quality to it, I'm still not quite sure that I'm awake, that this is actually happening. Back in late 2006, reading Time magazine in the middle of Zambia and feeling a million miles away from the rest of the world, I first heard of the young black senator who was causing such a stir, and was rumoured to have White House ambitions. And I thought he seemed interesting, I thought that he was somebody I would like to support, but I never thought he would get this far. I hoped and I dreamed, but I never thought he would win against Hillary, and even now, when the polls seem to favour him so much, and the dream looks set to become a reality, part of me still can't believe that he's going to win.

But he will. And he has to. I can't imagine anything more terrifying for the economic and physical safety of not only America but the rest of the planet if we see a McCain/Palin victory. Obama is a new start, a change. He brings hope. The long September of 2001 may now end. I don't know if he will live up to the huge expectations that his millions of followers worldwide now have of him, he won't be a perfect president. He is young, and he does lack experience. But this whole campaign has already changed politics. It seemed unlikely that we would see a female or black President within my parents' lifetime, and both those glass ceilings have been significantly dented, regardless of today's result. And however naive it may sound, especially in this culture of image and spin politics, I trust Obama. I trust him to do his best and to follow his heart, even if we will sometimes be disappointed with the results. I trust him to move us on from this crazy 'war on terror', to move America into a more 'united' state, to be genuinely concerned about the plight of the poor and the forgotten.

To quote Sam Cooke's famous song - It's been a long time coming, but I know a change is going to come. Oh yes it will.