Where were you on the 20th Jan 2009?

It's such a common saying when something big in the world happens.

I had doubted whether it could happen, I suspected that there would be too much stupidity, that there was too much hatred in America, that someone that 'could' be someone great would be denied by his own people. I shouldn't have doubted. The mob have spoken.

Today Barack Obama was sworn into the presidency and became the first African-American to ever grace the steps of the White House. A horde of 2 million people were gathered to watch him get inaugurated while millions more watched from their TV screens around in world (me included at 6am). I woke up because I wanted to hear a JFK speech, a Martin Luther King Jr speech, a David Lange (ex-NZ prime minister) speech but I was a little disappointed because I felt it wasn't one of those speeches. However, maybe it's because I am not American and so distant from everything that is America or maybe because he didn't want one of those speeches, he wanted to let America and the world to know that he doesn't have delusions of grandeur for himself, but he is here to help change America for the better and deluding us with fake speeches is not what Obama is about.

While watching the news the day before, you see a lot of Obama mania (there were lots before yesterday too) where people were selling, buying, making, praising anything Obama. He is probably the single most popular man in the world to date; there are people who have dropped everything to come to his inauguration; people who profuse their love for him. 

You might ask why many people love him, why droves of people shout his name on the streets. There has never been an African American more loved since Martin Luther King Jr, never been a man more loved since 'The Beatles'. Why?

What is more powerful than anything in the world?

What can endure any hardship and cannot be beaten down?

What is it that wakes people in the hours of stupid to watch a man (and yes, he's just a man) say a few words?

Hope. The Hope that he is not just a man, that he can transcend not only America, but be the start of a revolution. 

Good Luck Mr. President.

 

Most frequently used words from Obama's Inaugural Speech. Picture from www.readwriteweb.com