I Have A Dream, President Obama

Soniah Kamal.

Congratulations President Barack Hussein Obama. And Vice-President Joe Biden.

 I have a dream that the damage wrought in the U.S. and other countries will be overturned in the next four years to a great extent. You are black. You are white. Your father is from Kenya. Your mother is from Kansas. You have seen Muslim. You have seen Christian.

They called you terrorist because once you crossed streets with a domestic terrorist. They called you socialist because you care about all and not just an elite few. They called you Muslim as if this is a four letter word.

And we the people saw through this bullshit.

Politicians say so much to get into office, make so many promises… but let me not be cynical. Not now, not yet, I hope not at all in this case. I hope, with the audacity of hope, I dream with the audacity of dreams that, in this Obama Presidency some all of these dreams for the U.S., and for the world, come true.

Hope being a big word, I really hope this does mean change and not just gloss…But Obama’s win also DOES not mean that rascism is over only that we’ve come a looog way baby…and there’s still ways to go, and yes we can. I’m really looking forward to who makes up his adminstration and how they handle foreign policy– Guantanamo, Abu Graib and torture as merely indepth questioning…

From Grant Park, Chicago, IL to Kenya. How amazing to see the Kenyans in Kenya celebrating from Obama’s Dad’s village where his paternal grandmother is still alive. Because for them Obama is one of them too!!!!! In fact Kenya declares a national holiday

“They also stress that they know he is an American, rather than a Kenyan,
but even so there is still hope that the change he has promised will encompass
Africa, with trade policy and tariffs cited as a particular concern.”

That’s what many world-wide are hoping– yes, he’s America’s President, but also that he’s a Son of the World.

And finally Senator McCain’s gracious concession speech which brings back the man he used to be before the madness of his disuniting campaign

“I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just
congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest
effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge
our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a
dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better
country than we inherited. Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans.
And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than
that.” read rest here

And in Pakistan we look forward, one day, to the free and fair democratic election of Billawal Bhutto Zardari. Not.

*My son’s name is Buraaq and he’s going to be delirious with joy his namesake is indeed going to be the President. Buraaq is only 7 1/2, and through out this campaign he’s loved being called “President Barack/Buraaq”– Hey- what’s in a spelling? Buraaq says.