Wednesday 5 November 2008

Landslide Victory for Barack Obama!

The Seattle Stranger currently has a header saying "FUCK YEAH". This actually feels good, for a change.

But...stop talking about how historic this moment is because Obama is black. Let's just say that this moment is historic because somebody who sounds rational and sensible and smart about politics and economics is going to be one of the most powerful men on earth.

NY Times: Obama Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls
NY Times: For Obama, No Time for Laurels; Now the Hard Part
Zeit: Es spricht: der nächste Präsident
Zeit: Obama erringt historischen Sieg
Economist: Obama's historic victory

But:
"A COLOURFUL crowd gathered in the car park of a Catholic church in south Los Angeles on October 24th. There were suburban white evangelicals, blacks, Asians and Hispanics. Many pushed prams. People ate tacos and listened to Marvin Perkins, a black Mormon, invoke the memory of Martin Luther King. The aim of this rainbow coalition? To remove a basic right from another minority group.
The hardest-fought political race in California is not the presidential one, which will surely be a big win for Barack Obama. It is over a ballot initiative, Proposition 8, which would rewrite California’s constitution so as to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Supporters and opponents see California, where gay marriage has been legal since a court ruling came into effect in June, rather as the second world war allies saw Berlin."

Economist: California’s fight over gay marriage hints at changes in the culture wars
But gee, I'm Austrian, so why do I even complain?

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