President Obama is back!

Image : Adelaide Now

We're happy. I couldn't find one person today who favoured Mitt Romney. Not of any age or persuasion and I was asking the question - Who do you think will win? Face book comments sum it up really:

"Obama won the election huh? cool. He seemed nicer than Romney. No idea about his policies or even what he has done in this term but he's pretty likeable."

Even if  people didn't follow his politics they knew who he was and that he was accessible. Australia seemed to care very much about this election. Probably because we have taken to President Obama. He has meant something to so many people here and their age has not been relevant. He is a people person. We are used to American presidents we cannot identify with and whom we cannot relate to and Mitt Romney seems to have been in that category. He is not an American who is recognisable outside of his country. One Australian of Asian background couldn't work out why we were so focussed on the American election. His belief was no one cares about any other country and its elections so why America? Australians have always taken an interest in the elections of other nations with whom we have long term ties. These days I 'd go so far as to say we are far more geo politically aware and take an interest in government changes all over the world. We have been watching the American election for a long time but couldn't quite get into it . This week it was different. It meant something. Barack Obama is a president for the 21st century. He is global. He relates globally and other nations can respond to him. With such a hard fought race the Americans have given him something to think about in much the same way we will give our political leaders something to think about when we vote. He inherited so much. He turned the image of America around and that was a tough agenda item at the time. It has been taken a bit for granted. He has brought in some reforms we think are good, especially the health care reform. We like his wife Michelle because she cares about health and wellbeing and she gets out there to be a part of the national and global community. We relate to her...and their children and the dog. At the moment, it is what America needs so they have voted him back in with a headache. He will have to think out what happened. He's up for it. He has earned the second run and will hopefully have a chance to be able to show more of who he is and less of fixing what was broken and damaged. So, there are a lot of people in Adelaide going ....woo hooo! Bit unusual , really. 

So, who's the President?

When the time comes, America will choose the president it wants. The presidential elections are being followed over here. Last time they followed the French ones as well, which are on again, but I have seen nothing about those this time. At this point I have to say the presidential elections in both countries are nothing like the last time. It is not as interesting for us and it is not as dynamic. For both countries  it was a very trying but important time. The same applied to us. In the end Twitter went off like a rocket and the whole world welcomed Barack Obama. This doesn't seem to be being taken into account this time. What the world thinks doesn't seem to be important this time. The Americans can choose who they want and they will. What matters to us is what has occurred with Barack Obama. The world has embraced him. They genuinely like him and his wife, Michelle. Everyone is talking about how fit she is now and how natural and then how she did all those push ups on TV. We watched it or we caught up with the video. This is a very likeable first lady who has a lot of personal strength.She is part of the presidential image in a very real way. Kids know Barack Obama and they like him. While they are focussing on who to pick, the Americans may well forget that who they pick has an impact on us. America sees itself as a world leader. People tend to think of it as a country which can have good leadership qualities. They can also think of it as a country which pushes its weight around. Barack Obama has done so much to soften this approach because people warm to him, can relate to him and they can relate to his family. The only time they don't relate to him is when he comes in as the talking suit on some predecided governmental position. He sounds very ordinary. When he is himself and he can talk as himself he gets through. He is a communicator and so many nations and so many age groups can identify with him and where he is coming from. We know he isn't perfect and we know he is not always right but he is someone we like a lot and we value his approach. If Barack Obama is not re-elected I shall actually miss him. He has made a significant impact on world politics and has started to draw nations together because he knows how to work with different cultures. So far I have seen no other candidate who would suit the 21st century and that has to be someone who can have a good global impact as well as a good impact on their home turf. I wish him well in his campaign.