DAV Blog

The DAV Blogger is struggling to focus after a late night of celebration, so we’ll keep this short and to the point.

Barack Hussein Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States, and there is no shortage today of news pieces covering the global reaction. The Caucus blog (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/reactions-from-around-the-world/) at the New York Times depicts scenes of jubilation in New Delhi, Buenos Aires, and Kisumu, Kenya, where Obama’s father was born. In its leading piece, LeMonde (http://www.lemonde.fr/elections-americaines/article/2008/11/05/l-espoir-d-une-nouvelle-ere-dans-les-relations-internationales_1114984_829254.html#ens_id=1115033) declares “the hope of a new era in relations between the US and the rest of the planet, after 8 years of the Bush administration…” Der Spiegel (http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,588750,00.html) proclaims “Obama awakes a new America.”

At National Public Radio (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96654892), Wendi Thomas happily hammers the nail in the coffin of the “Bradley effect,” which simply did not come to pass in the presidential election results. Link TV’s Global Pulse (http://www.linktv.org/globalpulse) examines this story in greater detail in their weekly episode to be released tomorrow.  

A few notes of skepticism remain. At Outlook India for instance, Vinay Lal (http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20081105&fname=obama&sid=5) cautions that particularly in the realm of foreign affairs, ”To believe that Obama’s election as the President of the United States represents an end to the global nightmare of the American dream, one needs to hope against hope.”

But perhaps we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Here at Dear American Voter, we ARE hopeful at the prospects for improved global dialogue regarding politics. Your videos, photos, and stories over the past year have been a wonderful step in this direction. Thank you for sharing your voices and please do stay engaged.