Good for Democracy

Senator Barack Obama
Originally uploaded by cecily7

So it's done. 16 months and millions of dollars. Obama has gathered the needed amount of delegates to be the candidate of the Democractic Party to be the President of the United States of America from 2009 onwards.

Many have said that Clinton should have stepped down earlier. They said she was splitting the Democratic Party, wasting people's money and giving unnecessary lead to John McCain. I think these people are just plain wrong. I think the hard struggle has done only good for the Democrats and for America.

It is understandable that some party cronies were in favour of a clear and smooth campaign. This would have made it easy for them to work with those ready-made project management charts and those speeches readily written.

I think Clinton would have been a better candidate. I also feel that the world would have deserved a female leader. But I also feel that when a fair contest is done and the votes are cast, then the what-if should end and people should unite behind the winner. I do hope Obama will be the President of the United States of America, end of sentence.

The Democratic contest has mobilised record numbers, made politics the centre of attention and inspired millions. It has made people believe that they can change things. This is what democracy at its core is about.

This will be my last push towards Clinton's court, I promise: listen to the speeches of Obama and Clinton when the results were clear. Obama's speech I find rather bland, disturbingly evangelical and something heard numerous times from him. Clinton's concession speech on the other hand is graceful and rhetorically superb. I recommend listening to the last three minutes. This makes me love America.