President elect Barack Obama.

The long wait is over. Sen. Barack Obama is the President elect of the USA. Not just another victory, but a victory where he rethought and thereby redefined everything on the way : the groundwork, campaigning, fund raising, speaking, planning. Politics in America can no longer be the same.

As a side note, the campaign also taught us plenty :

As Son of Bosey states, millions of people all over the world and thousands of clueless Indians are delighted with Obama’s win (true for many in the USA too).

Indians expect more from the President of USA than we do from our own Prime Minister.

In India, we will be have to put up with hundred articles on every remote association that Barack Obama has with India/Indians.

Oxford has decided to retire the word ‘maverick’ from English forever.

Plumbers have gone underground out of shame.

Ditto for Joe’s.

Miss South Carolina is glad she is smarter than someone.

Russia has gone back to its original lcoation, and can no longer be seen from Alaska. And Africa is back to being a continent.

Tina Fey, late night comedians and Fox news are looking out for alternate occupations.

Brawn vs brain.

There are some very famous quotes in the US presidential elections (similar to the “Maut ka Saudagar” line in Gujarat elections) :

The last minute question by Ronald Reagan in the final presidential debate during the 1980 elections : “Are you better off now than you were four years ago ?”, which went on to become a game changer that year.

The question thrown around often this time is : “Whom would you rather have dinner with ? McCain or Obama ?”

Since the answer to that was certainly not going in favor of Sen. John McCain, giving a new twist to the above question was Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (campaigning for Sen. McCain) :

If you were in a POW cell … who would you want in that cell with you ?

Now why the #@@#@$@ would I be in a POW cell !!!!

The sly old veteran.

John McCain, in all his political speeches, mentions that if he is elected President, he will nab Osama Bin Laden, because he KNOWS how to get him (Link).

An honest wondering I had :

If you knew it all along, what the @*#@#@#$%@%$ were you waiting for !!!!

American Stories, American Solutions

The latest Barack Obama infomercial, for which he bought a primetime slot on 7 major channels, just a week before the elections :

Sleek ! Maybe a little Hollywoody, the cynics would say.  And of course, amazing music which I must give half the credit to, especially the parts with heavy strings.

Every time I hear this guy, I ask this question which I am sure every Indian must have asked himself at some point after listening to him : When will India get her Obama ? And no, I do not think Mayawati is the right answer.

If you have been following the US elections, you would have heard most of the things before. But that doesn’t stop it from making an impact. Maybe a few more specifics and plans, not that I care too much, and he would have scored a home run.

To lipstick, pigs, hockey and Sarah Palin.

I would like to dedicate this post solely to the Republican Vice-Presidental candidate Alaskan governor Mrs. Sarah Palin, out of respect and gratitude for all the laughs in these troubled times.

Tine Fey on Saturday Night Live pretty much nails the mimicry in all her 3 appearances on SNL :
SNL 1 : Interview with Katie Couric.
SNL 2 : Appearance with Hillary Clinton.
SNL 3 : VP Debate with Joe Biden.

Although I must honestly admit, they are not half as funny as the real appearances of Sarah lipstick-on-a-pig (she is the lipstick) hockey-mom Palin :
On Foreign Policy.
On the $700 billion bailout proposal (watch a frustrated Jack Cafferty at the end).

As Jack Cafferty perfectly puts it :

If John McCain wins, this woman will be one 72-year old’s heartbeat away from being President.

P.S. : Do watch her latest series of attacks on Barack Obama’s association with Bill Ayers, Video 1, Video 2 and Video 3 (at 1.20). The important things I concluded are that she does not memorise her lines (because she uses a few a’s and the’s differently) and that the Vice Presidental candidate reads the newspaper one day late.