Time Has Come Today

As of today, Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States, and I couldn't be happier, or prouder to be an American. I had made up my mind long ago to vote for Obama. The choice was an easy one, as eight years of George W. Bush has been an unmitigated disaster for my country, and Bush will go down with James Buchanan and Warren Harding as one of the worst occupants ever to sit in the Oval Office (without any future Trumanesque reevaluations, either). But the main reason for my choice was the fact that it was time, finally, for someone like Obama. American society is becoming increasingly multicultural, and now the White House is going to represent what is the greatest asset of the USA.

As for John McCain, he had the misfortune of being the wrong man at the right time in history. I never seriously considered voting for him, and while I thought his concession speech was a gracious one, the boos and jeers from his supporters when he mentioned Obama's name was a reminder of how the uglier side of American society was so firmly in the Republicans' camp. I was fed up with the questioning of Obama's patriotism (I guess pin wearing isn't restricted to North Korea), the "socialist" labeling (this after the Bush administration nationalized much of the financial services sector!) and, most of all, the ugly accusations of Obama being a closet Muslim. McCain may not have said such a thing himself, but he certainly didn't do much to stop others from doing so. And as Colin Powell pointed out, why couldn't a Muslim run for the presidency? Isn't that what the United States is supposed to be all about?

And then there was Sarah Palin, and not just because she was spectacularly unqualified to be a potential president. When Palin talked about how her vision of America was different than that of Obama's, and, especially, when she told a crowd of white people in rural Pennsylvania that she was standing in the "real America", it was obvious to me that there would be no place for a child like my Amber in Sarah Palin's conception of what the United States should be as a country and as a society.

And so history has been made today, and for the first time in a long time, I'm optimistic about the future of the US. Eventually, the hoopla will die down, and President Obama will have to make some hard decisions that will displease a great many people, both in America and around the world. But for now, at least, this is a moment to be enjoyed.

While the United States has taken a big step forward, Taiwan continues to slowly move in the opposite direction. Do I want my multi-cultural daughter to live in a country where creeping authoritarianism is gradually leading to a future special administrative regional status? Or should she grow up in a nation where someone like herself has just been elected (and by a wide margin) to the highest office in the land?

Yes, it could be time to go home again.