New era for the USA

I was pleasantly surprised in the late hours of Wednesday morning when it was announced that Barack Obama would become the new President of the United States. In fact I was ecstatic.

For once I was pleased that I had made a bad judgement. Although the polls were in favour of Obama, I still had my doubts as to when it came down to it, would people vote McCain over Obama.

I have to be honest, it was the 'race issue' that I thought would be the decider of the election.

My faith in the American people was close to nothing and I had expected that some would vote Republican rather than having to vote for an African-American.

Turns out that this was an incredibly bad judgment that not only I, but many others outside the U.S. had made.

It is clear that during this time of economic downfall, the people knew that Barack Obama could offer what McCain could not. The latter wanted to introduce tax-cuts which would have been of great benefit for rich America but not so great for the poor.

Obama has been clear from the start what his policies will be and why.

I believe that his promise to withdraw troops from Iraq and sort out the health care system as well as reaching out to the poor was what won him the election.

After seeing images across the news of all kinds of voters turning out in epic numbers, Obama has made history by becoming the first black president of the United States.

He is without doubt what the U.S. needs at this time of complete crisis, both economically and socially.

Could Obama be in trouble?

I have to be honest, I'm always logging on to YouTube to see the latest videos that have been uploaded.

Particularly with the lead up to the U.S. Election, which has been of great interest to me, the website provides what the news in some ways cannot.

I have been able to watch lengthy documentaries filming ordinary Americans and what they have to say about the two presidential candidates.

As interesting as this has been, it has also made me seriously consider some of the reasons why Obama becoming President might be much more of a struggle than I had previously believed.

Pro-Obama videos are in their hundreds on YouTube and has been an effective way of reaching out to young Americans who were unsure who they would vote for.

But it has also been of favour to the McCain campaign.

I had started to notice that a number of, very often young Americans, had posted videos of anti-Obama hatred.

Mainly filmed in the southern states, there is a clear hatred for him and they are not afraid of expressing this.

There are pretty harmless videos of 'rednecks against Obama' and so fourth who clearly don't really understand what the debate is about, but are stuck in their old ways of voting Republican.

What strikes me is that the most dangerous people are the Democratic voters who refuse to vote for an Obama presidency. There is plenty of footage of Clinton supporters who claim that they have never voted Republican.

But when asked who they would vote for if it were Obama v McCain, they quickly change their

tune.

It seems absurd that if you had always had a democratic way of thinking, you would change to Republican if it were not Clinton running for President.

But it is more than clear what the issue is here. These working class southerners have come to terms with the power that women now hold in their societies.

They are happy enough to accept that an educated white woman is ready to be President.

So why not Obama? Nobody can argue that he is not educated enough.

Although he lacks the foreign policy experience that McCain has, he is a well travelled and well educated middle class man, with fresh ideas on how to run the country.

Most of his opponents won't admit that the problem here is the colour of his skin.

Born to a Kenyan father and a white American woman, it is all too much for some traditional working class Americans to accept.

Although Obama has received fantastic press worldwide and is currently leading in the polls, it is still possible for McCain to win.

I hope that I am wrong in my assumption and that Obama will become President of the United States.

I have come to realise that a strong community exists of working class Americans, often very religious, who have strong doubts about Obama.

These people will have a huge impact on who will eventually win the Presidency.