The race for the whitehouse: A new era.
November 6, 2008

A new global era has begun with the election of Barack Obama as the next US President. The new President will be sworn in on January 20 2009

His stunning election victory is a reminder that the US has a tremendous capacity for self-renewal. This is a factor to bear in mind when people speculate on the “US’s final decline”, such as with President Bush’s failed military policies in Afghanistan and Iraq and the continuing economic crisis at home.

For example, what Barack Obama’s parents did was illegal in some US states when he was born: whites and blacks were not allowed to marry across the colour line in many states. All that has changed in only a few decades.

Additionally, Obama has mobilized a young generation of otherwise alienated voters. He has made the electoral system relevant again to jaded young voters.

What signal of a “new” America is now going out to the world because the US has voted for a young, black president with Hussein as his middle name?

He won’t be a miracle worker. The problems are too big. President Bush is leaving him a far worse set of crises than the new incoming President Bush inherited from the outgoing President Clinton in January 2001.

But at least Obama will be entering office on a flood of international goodwill. Many people around the world want him to succeed in the White House.

I spent part of the Election Day yesterday at the ad hoc Sydney tally room (in a major hotel) where, amid American flags and election souvenirs, I mixed with ex-pat Americans and Australian politicians and media figures. There was a widespread sense of joy that Obama won the election.

The last eight years have seen great damage to US prestige overseas and the decay of America at home. President Bush has been one of the worst presidents in US history.

Obama can at least start to rebuild America’s standing in the world.

It really can be the start of a new era.