Mandela Moment

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th US President was over and done with. And yet, people cannot stop discussing about it. In fact, it set a new record in terms of the largest television audience, breaking Ronald Reagan’s inauguration record set way back in 1981. Days before and after the inauguration took place, it felt like overly hyped but it was for some good reasons.

Obama’s win on the US presidency was dubbed by many as US’ own version of “Mandela Moment”. Obama’s visions not just for his country but for the rest of the world going through global financial crisis is a breath of fresh air. Listening to excerpts of his inauguration speech the other day, I couldn’t help but cringe. Although idealistic to a certain extent, every word that came out of Obama’s mouth reiterated hope for everyone of us. Obama is just too articulate and clever that I figuratively hang on to every word he said.

Obama was the kind of leader America wanted (and needed) for a while. He isn’t the type to employ bully tactics, but rather embraced and encouraged us all to move forward. With a hazy future that awaits in 2009, especially in the economic aspects, having a leader that would make us believe (in ourselves and the leaders who run our respective countries) is something that we could all take comfort in.