Obama hysteria - founded or fickle?

To miss out on Barrack Obama’s presidential inauguration yesterday, you’d have to have been living under a rock or alternatively, in a cave – (did Osama watch Obama?) – such was the global interest in this momentous historical event.

Literary license and juxtaposed jokes aside, the event was clearly one of those iconic moments that future generations will look back on and those of us who tuned in will be able to recall where we were, with whom and what we were doing. Such are the advances in technology and media, I was in fact watching the inauguration on a projector at work with 35 colleagues, through a live Internet feed – this presidential election has been a ‘first’ in more ways than one.

But I digress. The overwhelming hysteria surrounding this election, whilst of paramount social, racial and historical importance, seems to momentarily mask what in actual fact, is a job, and a tough one at that. My personal views aside, (I genuinely believe that Obama is a man of integrity, democratic ideals and a peaceful visionary) we need to remember that once the celebrations die down, work begins.

Clearly an educated and capable politician, Obama is nonetheless inheriting an economy that is on its knees, ongoing legacies of two wars, a continued threat of terrorism and significant social problems - factors that are not exclusive to his country by any means at all.

All I hope to ask is that whilst the world is celebrating the social significance of this historical election, real issues are not lost amidst the celebrity and celebrations. Popularity of politicians and those in the public eye has the ability to turn on a dime – I am of course, lovingly ‘coining’ a phrase in honour of our transatlantic cousins here.

I just hope that the global faith invested in this one man remains as resolute and concrete as his own resolve to make this world a much better place. God bless Barrack.