Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Obama is the 44th President of the United States

My reflections on this momentous event will come at some later date but for now I just want to acknowledge this remarkable historic day.


Update: Bob Herbert in the New York Times comes closest to my feelings post-election so here they are even though I must say that I am already in the mode of anticipation of evaluating Obama's Presidency based on its actions. There has never been this much hope and promise but his approach in the first six months, more than anything else, will help me understand better if the tenor and the ultimate outcome of this Presidency will be noticably different from those in history.

Arthur Miller liked to say that the essence of America was its promise. In the darkest of the dark times, in wartime and drastic economic downturns, in the crucible of witch hunts or racial strife, in the traumatic aftermath of a terror attack, that promise lights the way forward.

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We still have two wars to deal with and an economic crisis as severe as any in decades. But we should take a moment to recognize the stunning significance of this moment in history. It’s worth a smile, a toast, a sigh, a tear.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Well I reserve my comments over the REMARKABILITY of this day... all I can say is I have talked about it a lot here... http://muddleheadedsblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/b-o-my-savior-your-savior-their-savior.html

So if you have time, plz check it out... it may help in what I want people of Pakistan to be.
Thank You

Fawad Zakariya said...

@Afaque, To be fair I don't think that this day is nearly as remarkable for non-Americans as it is for American history. The euphoria of his election outside America will die down very quickly as he will be prove himself to be a very conventional American politician when it comes to foreign policy. The best one could hope for is a humbler tone than Bush but even that is hardly guaranteed.