Thursday 6 November 2008

Gammo Speng & The Senator From Illinois

gammo speng election Its 11.300pm the day after the night before. I am sill suffering post election fatigue. ie I'm knackered. Like any good political geek, I stayed up all night watching the US election results. I was joined in my vigil by Gammo Speng, who seemed particularly taken with the BBC's coverage. We weren't glued to the set because there was ever any realistic doubt about the winner but these historical moments in time are rare and fleeting and it was worth a day's weariness to bear witness even if from afar.

The only downside for Gammo was Obama's announcement that he would be getting a puppy for his children. Gammo feels this is just pandering to the canine lobby


Over here, the US takes a fair bit of condescending stick about their political system, and to be honest they don't help themselves by electing the likes of Bush, and the utter fraudulent farce of his first victory. We have also found the whole big corporate, vested interest, bankrolling of candidates somewhat distasteful, even though we are not immune to this in Britain. However in spite of all this Barack Obama, has become president. America, the land of the KKK, fundamental religious biggotry and a past of segregation, has chosen to move beyond its history. In these days of the rising far right in parts of Europe, the fact that an African American is the most powerful man on the planet is a cause to rejoice. He may well turn out too be the most useless president in history, although Bush has set the bar to a record height on that one. However well he does to steer the way through the credit crunchie or to manage foreign policy without alienating the rest of the planet matters less than what he represents. I am not ashamed too say that I was watching his acceptance speech through blurry tired and tear stung eyes. It was not just about what he said but the fact he was able to say it.


I am left with a maybe naïve hope that Tuesday night was possibly the beginning of the end of the thick headed, anachronistic evil that is racism.

Are you watching BNP ?

<KENOX S1050  / Samsung S1050>Even my mobile phone got in on the act.

(You cant imagine how difficult and indeed pointless it is, trying to make phrases on a mobile scrabble game)

2 comments:

Fluffy Pink Duck said...

I hope Gammo Speng has got over his dissapointment at the next set of First Children's preference for a puppy, hopefully there will be a few White House cats to put the first puppy in his place.

I would have loved to have stayed up to see the results come it but I forgot to get the next day off work. But it was so brilliant listening to the replay of his acceptance speech and the reactions on the radio as I drove to work on Wednesday.

alan said...

I saw a photo last week of somewhere in the midwest where a pollster found a house flying the American flag over the Confederate battle flag; in the front yard was an Obama sign...

Everytime I think the old hatreds have died, it seems they are still hidden just under the surface. I hope that perhaps this will be their final death knell because it's time to work on things like the "prop h8te" laws that keep getting passed!

alan