======= Date Modified 06 Nov 2008 08:52:17 =======
blame

good call Ruby!

Twin

bland

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6186217

A nice news video on the Obama victory, which gives an American perspective on the deeper meanings of this to America and its people. To think that its not significant for the nation, beyond the politics, but for who and what the nation is, both for people of color and people not of color, is to misunderstand the profound nature of racism that has and does permeate the nation. But symbolically and literally, Obama's win changes this. This is to not say that his win is just about race, it shouldn't be and it isn't, he has many more talents, but to say its nothing to do with race, and that is not a huge step towards reconciliation of the rifts in the nation due to race is to completely not get America.

Oohh, just watching the video tapes of the various "moments" of the campaign results, and honestly, I am just all shivery with tears in my eyes, not a usual reaction I have to politics! Obama is such a wonderful speaker-------and a joy to listen to----------gone are the years of George Bush and Make the Pie Higher!

ohhh I have goosebumps listening to the video of Barack Obama's victory speech, it about brings tears to my eyes, for reasons I cannot really put into words, but I suppose that does not matter right now. I am so happy with this result! Its what the United States needed.

stag

trees

Tumbleweeds can be a road hazard in the western US--they can blow and pile up so high that the major highways have to be closed.

slat

floss

Tumbleweeds, Ruby? That has cracked me up!

olivia is listening to guitar solos by slash on youtube and looking for any election news she can find.

I think having a "person of colour" ( the politically correct term in the US) who stands a significant chance of becoming the President of the United States is a remarkable event in the history of the US--because it was and is divided by race. People take issue with calling Barack Obama "black" ( which in US vernacular means some one of Sub Saharan African descent) because of having a white mother. Until what forty or fifty years ago? when race legislation remained on the books in the United States, if you had "one drop" of Sub Saharan African blood you were deemed to be black. The legal meanings may have changed or be gone, but socially, culturally, the United States still adheres to this notion of one drop, called the one drop rule, and so that in American culturally/socially defined terms Mr Obama is black. Americans struggled with whether he was "African American" because that is supposed to mean someone whose ancestors were enslaved. Obama destroyed this notion of race as well. Race in America is a question of black and white, and with the one drop rule, for instance, you are either black or non black, so that people who are Asian get thought of as white.

That is a long ramble. America will be dealing in a new way with its own history of slavery, racism, and how those still impact views of the present day. I am really excited........like a kid at Christmas.

I am so excited to see the outcome of this election---supporting Obama all the way--and trying to find up to date results on the internet. The US polls won't close until the middle of the night UK time, so there won't be any results for hours, if that, of course it could be days and days ( thinking of the 2000 election). On a day like this, from a far, watching a democratic ( not in the sense of the Democratic party) vote swing into action in such a large and varied nation, its amazing thing to watch. It really feels like history is being made this day in America-without wanting to sound melodramatic about it--but it does. I will be on tenterhooks until I know the election results.