5th November 08’ will be a historic day for America. The 44th President of USA is an African American, with a middle name of “Hussein” and elected by a hugely white population, breaking the racial barrier forver. The winning of Barrack Obama has sent waves of optimism all over the world. The whole world is eager to put Bush and his 8-year regime deep into the closet, and look ahead now with hope.
It was a taken that Obama would be the next President of USA but after the debacle of Florida during Bush’s time, there was still a glimmer of doubt, one never knew for sure till it happened.
Call it the smartest advertising and PR blitzkrieg of the decade or the need for a ‘Change”, its indeed a momentous victory. Obama has shown the world how to win elections and by using the internet as a medium of communication, he has shown how it is today the best mode of communicating with the youth.
The editorial in New York Times states – Mr. Obama won the election because he saw what is wrong with this country: the utter failure of government to protect its citizens. He promised to lead a government that does not try to solve every problem but will do those things beyond the power of individual citizens: to regulate the economy fairly, keep the air clean and the food safe, ensure that the sick have access to health care, and educate children to compete in a globalized world.
Obama is coming into the Office at a time when America and the whole world is going through the worst possible crisis. Call him a good orator or his charisma, after a long time, we saw how a leader can inspire people and how much hope he ignites if the priorities are clear. He now has the huge task of first setting the economics right, take a long and hard look at the various “war” decisions of America and more importantly, bring back the respect to the American passport and its citizens world over.
More than anything else, the winning of Obama brings back optimism and hope onto Wall Street and hence all over. Obama has no magic wand, which he can wave and miraculously set everything right. So what exactly does the winning of Obama mean? It has brought about a wave of hope, his winning has unleashed optimism which had become extinct. Markets are all about sentiments and right now, the sentiments are buoyed and that will help the overall psyche.
What does the winning mean for India? Well, Obama loves Indian food, that’s about all we know for sure right now! This win does not change anything overnight for India or the Indian companies. H1B visa’s and outsourcing are too micro issues and do not make sense in the whole macro picture. Once the sentiments improve and only when the economy picks up can we start talking about these issues again. Improvement in sentiments would mean that FIIs would once again start looking at emerging markets and that is what India needs the most. Right now, the whole world needs a change; a change from recession and slowdown; a change from the constant pallor of gloom to an air of optimism. And this is the hope of change that America and the world expect’s from Obama. The Dow closed up 300 points and that alone is enough for India and the world markets – rising US markets would bolster markets world over. That’s the biggest change – a change in sentiments, which the winning of Obama would bring about for India.
Bush is one President, which Americans would like to forget about as soon as possible. Under Bush, all that could go wrong has gone wrong; this is the lowest point. So for Obama, whatever he does now, which if different from what Bush has done so far, would make him a hero. Its like he now has a huge white canvas and he can decide what to paint – the picture could turn either very beautiful or ugly.