The northlondonhippy

President-elect Obama just fin­ished speak­ing. It was pow­er­ful and mov­ing, he’s quite an orator.

His mes­sage was one of hope, for the future of Amer­ica and the world. He even addressed the rest of us, not in Amer­ica. That’s unprece­dented. The cur­rent occu­pant of the White House only made threats to the rest of the world.

I felt a bit sorry for John McCain when I watched his speech. I don’t think he is a bad man, I just think his poli­cies were bad. Peo­ple clearly wanted change and that wasn’t on offer from the Sen­a­tor from Arizona.

I hate to piss all over the party, but the feel­ing I have right now reminds me of the day after Tony Blair was elected the first time, back in 1997. Strangers smiled at each other in the streets, peo­ple seemed so happy by the prospect of change. It was really amazing.

And we know how all that turned out. Not well.

I think it will be dif­fer­ent with Obama. I hope so, anyway.

Obama has a lot to live up to. Many peo­ple will be dis­ap­pointed with him when he doesn’t turn all the water into wine.

The changes Obama has promised won’t hap­pen overnight, but they will hap­pen. We need to be patient and let him do what he can. Don’t be dis­cour­aged if the happy feel­ing you have today wears off.

Trust me, it will wear off. It always does.

But for today, just enjoy it. Bask in it. Revel in it.

For today, for the first time in the bet­ter part of a decade, things have never looked brighter.

That’s it for me, tonight. I hope you’ve enjoyed my sur­pris­ingly pro­lific live-blogging this evening. I’ve enjoyed being able to com­ment on actual his­tory as it unfolds.

the northlon­don­hippy
0535gmt — 5th Novem­ber 2008

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