Guest Post: Thank You

Carla asked my opinion of guest posts in NaBloPoMo. To which I say: cheaters! But hey, she was coerced volunteered, and this is totally her area of expertise. I hope you enjoy this view of the US election from an Aussie.

When Missy asked me to do a guest post so she can slack off during NaBloPoMo about the US Presidential elections, I was excited. Air my views to an audience who hasn’t met me and doesn’t automatically turn off when I start talking about politics? [Hey! I resemble that remark!] What psephologist and political nutter would pass up that opportunity? (Psephologist is your word of the day. Look it up and remember you too can say big words if you listen to your local ABC radio station – that’s NPR for the folks in the US.)

However, I soon ran into some problems. I’ve started about five posts, and discarded them all. There is so much I want to talk about regarding this election, an important election not just for America, but for the world. Americans might not realise this, but you haven’t just voted in someone who will govern your country for the next four years, but someone who makes decisions that has far-reaching consequences, beyond the US shores.

Do I talk about the voting process? How it is a second-world voting system for a first world country? (Electric voting booths? Guys, seriously? Is that not an open invitation for fraud and abuse?) The fact that journalists were even discussing the possibility of the Presidency being decided in the courts á là Bush-Gore 2000 demonstrates that the biggest “democracy” in the world is far from perfect.

Do I talk about the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate? A candidate so inexperienced, so radically right-winged that her personal religious beliefs would be imposed on a country whose Constitution declares it secular and not ruled by any one religion? Who has no idea what the job of the Vice-Presidency entails, who was so eager to abuse her position of power in a small state, let alone in the White House?

Or do I talk about the media, the “Washington elite” (to quote a certain intellectual Alaskan Governor) who were so terrified about being accused of sexism they allowed Palin to go unchecked for so long. Whatever she or any other aspiring politician may believe, the people of the country you want to serve in office has every single right to know everything about your credentials, your working history and your views, that is their right when making a decision that will affect every aspect of their lives. Even if she were the most left-wing woman in existence, had she treated the American people with as much contempt as she did in this election I would have actively campaigned against her.

Instead, I want to focus on the positives. A very calm, intellectual man, who just happens to be black, has been voted in as the 44^th President of the United States of America. A smart man, a civil rights lawyer, coming from a very different background, has been elected. One who stands by his beliefs, but is willing to compromise for the good of the nation. Only 60 years ago, racial segregation was still present in the US, and now an African-American is President. A true icon for positive change, away from the bad policies of the current administration, a President that has gone down in history for having the worst approval ratings ever recorded.

Barack Obama, as the 44^th President of the United States of America, I salute you and wish you the best for the next four years. Congratulations.

To the American people, thank you. Thank you for making a wise decision, for choosing sanity and intellect over mavericks and intellectual ignorance. For making a smart decision on behalf of the world.

WOOHOO!!!