I’ve always associated myself with more of a lefty than a righty. I am not too sure why – perhaps because my dad was always passionate about democracy, always voted for the “民主派”. – Or perhaps its the innate jealously of the wealthy, and the secret desire to make them suffer and pay more taxes, I don’t know.

So I spent most of the day listening to the coverage of Obama winning the presidency. It wasn’t nearly as exciting as it was 4 years ago, when I was actually watching in my apartment on 117 Oak, and Prudence was happy with Bush’s victory due largely to the appeal of the Republicans to Christians and Conservatives. I remember being pretty disgusted… after 4 years of Bush, you want more??? 8 years ago I remember watching in Hong Kong when we still had CNN… Gore Gore Gore! It was all very exciting, with the recounts and all. I do think the American voting system is somewhat flawed… why can’t they just do it by raw counts and forget this whole state electorate BullShit?

Anyhow, although I am a Hilary Supporter, there is no doubt that Obama is indeed charismatic. Many times listening to his speeches I get somewhat teary eyed, even though there is supposedly nothing that resonates to me – I am not an American, I am not black, and I don’t particularly need to fix the US economy (except that the US economy is the world economy)  – yet everything he says sends a tingle down my spine. I suspect it is the sentiments of many others, from the celebrations around the globe (today is a public holiday Obama Day in Kenya, wtf). And it makes me wonder – how did he learn to be so charismatic? I was listening to how his wife Michelle became attracted to him in the first place – Yes, alot of people can do Corporate America, stand up, in a suit, look professional etc. (I can’t even do that). But Obama has a way to appeal to both – the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the asians, blacks, latinos, and the whites. I wonder what part of his upbringing gave him his incredible talent of bringing hope to masses.

Right after the election he begins to tone down the hope imposed on him. Obviously it will take a while to fix, but not everyone understands this fact. People are impatient. People want a miracle drug. I sincerely hope that he can somewhat live up to his charisma and not lose the presidency to the republicans in 4 years time.

And I also sincerely hope that he does not get assassinated, which I think is rather likely. After all, I’m not entirely convinced that all racial barriers have been broken in America.