OB"AMERICA" !!!

The biggest buzz around now is OBAMA well let me try educating on the MAN and what significance of him being the president elect of USA means ...
Barack Hussein Obama II swept to victory as the nation's first black president Tuesday night in an electoral college landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself. "Change has come," he declared to a huge throng of cheering supporters.
The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his historic triumph by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Iowa and more.
On a night for Democrats to savor, they not only elected Obama the nation's 44th president but padded their majorities in the House and Senate, and come January will control both the White House and Congress for the first time since 1994.
Obama's election capped a meteoric rise — from mere state senator to president-elect in four years.
In his first speech as victor, Obama catalogued the challenges ahead. "The greatest of a lifetime," he said, "two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century."
He added, "There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face."
McCain called his former rival to concede defeat — and the end of his own 10-year quest for the White House. "The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly," McCain told disappointed supporters in Arizona.
President Bush added his congratulations from the White House.
In his speech, Obama invoked the words of Lincoln and echoed John F. Kennedy.
"So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder," he said.
He and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, will take their oaths of office as president and vice president on Jan. 20, 2009.
Obama will move into the Oval Office as leader of a country that is almost certainly in recession, and fighting two long wars, one in Iraq, the other in Afghanistan.
The popular vote was close — 51.3 percent to 47.5 percent with 73 percent of all U.S. precincts counted — but not the count in the Electoral College, where it mattered most.
Mostly the biggest thing that they are seeing is being black and race as issue of the reason him being the president elect that too with a landslide victory over mccain ...so some walk down the memory lane how was it that it all started for the "blacks" to now where they are in the US ..


On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger.Parks' action sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.Hailed as the mother of civil rights movement,Parks's act of defiance created the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation.









Then came in martin luther king junior He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–6) and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957), serving as its first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.


These men and women have made Obama where he is from days of slavery to be the 44 th US president elect shows how times change and how we should never give up be it any phase of our lives as "There is no better time than now. The time to live is now. The time to dream is now. The time to imagine and forget the past is now. The time to shine is now. The time to bleed, sweat, and determine yourself for the things you want most is now."

The campaign and the victory
On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. The choice of the announcement site was symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "House Divided" speech in 1858.



Obama's campaign raised $58 million during the first half of 2007, of which donations of less than $200, classified as "small donations" by campaign laws, accounted for $16.4 million. The $58 million set the record for fundraising by a presidential campaign in the first six months of the calendar year before the election.

Obama won more delegates than hillary clinton and was the presdential candidate from the democratic party




with running mate joe biden he finally won the election against the replubican duo of john mccain and sarah palin :-D

Strategy
C
Barack Obama impacted history symbolically, but he defied history strategically. His campaign for change reso-nated with peoples across generations, races, continents, classes, intellects and experiences. The impact of his victory must not simply be described in the emotional realms of symbo-lism, but must extend to the practical ideals of intellectual prowess and strategy. After all, being able to think, plan, execute and succeed is not programmed only in the genes of Caucasians or the upbringing of the privileged. Non-whites, yes, blacks from unusual and even dysfunctional childhood settings can defy the odds, stay focused and lead the world.

There is no value that can be placed on the significant symbolic value that Obama's achievement has had on the psyche and self-esteem of blacks and non-whites across the world. As he aptly stated in his victory speech though our "stories are singular" our "destiny is shared"! We are all living on a planet in peril - environmentally, socially, financially and even religiously and if we do not row this boat together, it will capsize and we will have to drown individually.
repair a nation

Obama himself recognised that there cannot be "a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers". He is being made the bridge between the Republican and Democratic parties, the bridge that will allow for the liberals, moderates and conservatives to sit together at the proverbial round table and "repair a nation", "reshape a country" and change a world.


He out-strategised the Clintons and numerous 'experts' and 'men or great influence' to win his party's nomination when it was said that could not be done and he raised the money needed to execute his plans successfully when 'all the writings on the wall' showed that this was impossible.

Most persons agree that Obama's campaign was near to perfect. There seemed not to be any skeleton in his closet notwithstanding the attempts to fabricate or dig up one to derail or deny his victory. He chose to be all inclusive and his mantra of "yes, we can" was a brilliant strategic battle cry to mend differences and on November 4, it became a victory song recognising the importance of inclusiveness and the need for a coalition of the fractions within his society. He carefully chose his running mate, Joe Biden, and he never overtly championed the cause of his race whether black or white (which angst some of the civil-rights leaders), but rather he went for the jugular - ending the wars, broader based health-care benefits, alternative energy, reviewing taxation, equal rights and opportunities, democracy and its ideals.

Obama ran a clean and organised campaign that was rejected by many pundits as being too unconventional and not accomplishable. Obama however, understood timing and he brought a level of energy, skills and vision
to a team that mobilised a cadre of footmen utilising the old and proven door-to-door, personalised Richard Daley-style campaigning across the country, thus reaching millions of potential voters.

campaign

He used cutting-edge technology, reaching over three million young persons at any one time via text messages and offering persons through Obama.com an opportunity to respond and have an impact on the campaign.

The strategy used for campaigning cannot be the one used for governing, and already this visionary leader has recognised this and he is building an administration that complements his personal strengths and weaknesses - that is not symbolic; that is strategy!
by-Charlene Sharpe-Pryce is faculty head at Northern Caribbean University.