I’ve been busy catching up at work so it’s been a while but after 2 weeks in LA and an 18 hour flight, I’m finally home 🙂 It’s been a week now and I already miss the LA weather but it feels good to be back. I have to say, with the NBA game and being in the thick of the US election, this is going to be one of the more memorable trips.

So last Saturday when I caught up with a friend, although she understood why the NBA game would mean something out of the ordinary, she asked why Obama’s win meant so much to a Singaporean like me? Well, for one thing I’d be a tad naive if I didn’t think what happens to the US has no effect on our little red dot. The other thing is that I’m a total political junkie, I’d be equally excited if I was in KL and they were going to elect their first minority leader … actually, right now, I’d be pretty impress if a woman from the majority could actually be elected Prime Minister there too.  Heck, I even get excited at the Taiwanese parliament just coz they throw things at each other.

Like I’ll always remember what I was doing when Obama won, I remember the morning before going off to school and my Dad pointing out the article to me that Marcos’ reign is over and Asia sees her first female president, Ms Corazon Aquino. I was only 11 but old enough to be inspired with an ambition to dream whatever my heart desires.

And that’s why I was glad to have been in the US to see them at their best. With Obama’s win, comes hope and with it, anything is possible. Like my favourite bit from the Sandman series, when he had to fight the demon in hell for his helmet. They played a silly game of who could think up of things more powerful than the other.  In the end, Dreams win because hope trumps all.

That still doesn’t quite answer why a mixed heritage dude winning the presidential election for his country has an impact on the rest of us.  For me though, Obama’s win is pretty much history making because the whole world is watching.  Like someone once said to me, Hollywood doesn’t make the best films but they sure do have the best marketeers who make you think that they do.  It doesn’t make things right, it just is.  So as we go on in our daily lives fighting against the different prejudices we face and some fights are even bigger than Obama’s, the American media makes the audience believe that Obama’s fight is the one that counts.  So till the world sees another media power house, I hope this well marketed battle gives everyone the boost they need to keep fighting their own battles everyday.  That’s why it meant enough to me.

More than that, I’m really glad that Obama reveals a side of America that is a rarity in his country.  Think American and you would hardly think humble but Obama is just that.  So I do wish him all the best because as much as the media would like to portray him as the most powerful man in the world.  His daughters will soon find out that while he may still be able to be the boss of them, when it comes to cutting taxes or not; it doesn’t solely rests in his hands, which will be often tied but the senate and congress as he tries his darnest to right the wrongs that have nothing to do with him.  

In the meantime, despite the constant bad news with hope the rest of us, ordinary folk will be able to ride out the tough times as so many before us, have done 🙂