'World wishes Obama to say good riddance to politics of terrorism'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 November 2008, 13:01 GMT]
The historic victory of Barack Obama in the presidential elections of the United States of America, bestowed on to him by the people of America, heralds a paradigm shift in world affairs. "The new hope is that the International Community will recover from the psychological sickness of the 'paranoia of terror,' which will in turn induce recovery of economy, human rights and peace in the world," said Selvam Adaikkalanathan, Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian from Vanni, welcoming the victory of Mr. Obama.

After winning the elections, Mr. Obama said: "This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can."

One of the significant features of the American election was that it attracted record high turn out of voters. Michael McDonald of George Mason University told Associated Press that the voter turn out beat the old post World War II high of 63.8 percent of 1960 John F. Kennedy versus Richard Nixon election. He projected the turn out figure of 2008 at 64.1 percent.

A Reuter headline read: 'Black Americans celebrate Obama's victory'.

The phenomenal victory of a Black as the president of the United States is 'civilisational,' said Mr. Adaikkalanathan.

When the Blacks, kidnapped or purchased, brought to America as chained-slaves from the African coasts, their initial fear was that the cannibals (slave traders) were going to eat them. A couple of centuries of changes have now culminated in the becoming of a person of African ancestry at the helm of the affairs of the World, endorsing the beginnings of a new 'world human civilisation'.

Another encouraging element of sociological significance seen in the American elections was the enthusiastic interest shown by the youth in bringing out the change. 'Young voters helped Obama put over the top,' read a title of a report filed by the Associated Press.

Commenting further on Obama's victory, Mr. Adaikkalanathan said: "The moment of the time seems to be for wind of changes everywhere. Already, three of the countries in South Asia, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives have been benefited by it. Bangladesh is facing democratic elections shortly. We hope that the victory of Obama will signal the wind of change in Sri Lanka too."

In January 2008, during an interview Mr. Obama had said that, "the problem of the 21st century is the problem of the other." He described this phenomenon as the inability of people to accommodate others "who are not like us," and mentioned Sri Lanka as an example, pointing out that war rages even when "everybody there looks exactly the same."

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