Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Change for the better

Even as the election fever spreads, for those fence sitters or those who are simply not interested in the changing political climate around them, may I suggest that you vote for Barrack Obama. After reading about him and watching his fiery and inspirational speeches on Youtube, I'm more and more convinced that Obama, his personality and ideology, really represents the commoner in America. I gather he is more awe-inspiring than Martin Luther King.

While Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion and Russian presidential candidate hopeful, talked vehemently about the imperialistic policies of President Putin and his corrupted and crony officials, Obama focuses on great and humble matters such as love, faith and hope. He talked about America's deficit, not of trade and economy, but of moral high living - the empathy deficit. He talked about the simple and shining examples of his work with the underprivileged - the bright young girl who could not afford higher education, the backstreet boys who were neglected or abandoned by their parents, the elderly woman who became a victim of the insurance healthcare policy. He talked about his background. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father, a Kenyan, had abandoned his family. His single working mother has struggled to make ends meet. Criticising his opponents who say he is only a hope-monger, he said that without that little hope to believe in during his formative years, he would not have stood amongst the crowd today and talked about his hope for the people of America.

He talked about how we could pray together, work together and march together. Nobody could fight inequality alone. There is a need for unity and it is not without hard work and sacrifices. This political meteor himself is the change that America can believe in. One day, I trust, America can look back and be proud that they had a black president serving them. And if this can happen in America, it can also happen anywhere in the world, most certainly in Malaysia. Vote for change.