A new dawn or more of the same..?

I can't say when I've been more engaged and emotionally involved in an election.

I vaguely remember the 1992 British Election and disbelievingly watching John Major elected as Prime Minister. I know that at the time, I was ineligible to vote - the election was scheduled for the Monday before my 18th birthday - man was I pissed. I was more annoyed afterwards that the British electorate had been stupid enough to buy into five more years of Thatcherism, though with hindsight the Tories had probably put forward a better case for managing the economy at the time and Neil Kinnock was clearly deemed to be too Far Left to be palatable. The next election was the first I was able to vote in and while the magnitude of the rise of New Labour wasn't lost on me, it was seen as a forgone conclusion and although I voted it wasn't with any great sense of anxiety. By '97 I was living in Australia and a postal vote certainly disengaged me from another election that seemed inevitable.

This last year in Chicago I've felt more involved in an election than ever, despite the fact that I'm ineligible to vote! Anyone who has seen my FaceBook profile will tell you that I'm constantly gleaning articles from the NY Times and The Independent and posting them for their enjoyment (no, honestly I am!). I've donated money to Obama's campaign, posted countless articles, had debates with strangers and friends, bought & worn T-shirts, watched the debates and Saturday Night Live skits, displayed bumper stickers and watched the forecasted results online changing slowly each day as if the outcome of the election would have a profound effect on my life.

Yet to be a citizen of Earth means that America's election results WILL have a profound impact on your life.

In discussion with friends on Tuesday night I mentioned that of all the countries polled, only three - Georgia, Israel and The Philippines wanted McCain as the POTUS. My friends were surprised not at the outcome of that particular poll (no surprise at all there), but that countries around the world would care at all - that such polling would even take place. They cited the fact that no-one in the States was bothered whether Gordon Brown continued in power or Cameron got in (not that any of them knew who Cameron was - pictured) and that most people wouldn't have a clue who was up for election in Canada on the USA's doorstep earlier this year, let alone the outcome of the Italian election in April - which might as well have been on a different planet (both returned right wing governments).

The fact of the matter as anyone not living in the USA will know, is that America has a great deal of influence in the world, reaching into everyone's lives - the current economic crisis, a perfect example, has been cited as the responsibility of Wall street and has reached around the world with disastrous consequences. An article in the Independent this week talked about the 'what if presidents' (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/what-if-the-presidents-we-never-had-989509.html) and that had Gore been elected, he would have been likely to go into Afghanistan in pursuit of al Qa'ida after 9-11, but would have stopped short of attacking Iraq and as such the bombings in Madrid and London in July 2005 may not have occurred.

The outcome of this election therefore will have a massive effect on the world: America's stance on the environment, the global economy and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as demonstrated by their choice of President will go on to affect how the world perceives the US for the next four and hopefully eight years. Whether the world is ready to trust a country that has weilded its influence with blind disregard for the impact on its neighbours for the last eight years will be massively influenced by its choice of leader. I for one am filled with a new hope.

Obama's campaign was supported with a massive swell of grass roots activism with people from all generations involved in what is in American politics a massive shift from right wing, militarily aggressive and in terms of the wealthy in America, fiscally self serving policies to a more left leaning, socially minded both at home and abroad and egalitarian approach. The fact that this change came about because of a groundswell of ordinary people, who dedicated their time and money (Obama's campaign was funded primarily by ordinary people not corporations and lobbyists) to a stance that they felt better represented their own views, rather than the NeoCons that had been mismanaging their country and misrepresented Americans to the rest of the world, only made his victory sweeter. Obama's victory was a victory for the everyday American.

As a gay man, my heart swelled with emotion to hear our inclusion in his speech "It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states, we are, and always will be, the United States of America". (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-full-text-of-barack-obamas-victory-speech-993008.html)

The fact that proposals to ban Gay Marriage were passed in three states with a fourth banning Gay Adoption is neither here nor there: America has come a long way in the past two years even if there is some distance left to go before it can live up to it's promise of justice and liberty for all.

All I can say is that standing in my local gay bar, surrounded by my friends and seeing CNN call for Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States (were you wondering what POTUS stood for?) was one of the most emotional moments of my life. There was a palpable sense of a new dawn approaching. I'm not a hundred percent sure what the weather for tomorrow will be, but I know that it will be better than the grey rain of the last eight years.