Skip to main content

Barack Obama for President (No advertisement)

Last week saw the end of the long battle of the Democratic primaries. Barack Obama vs. Hillary Clinton finally came to an end. History was made as Senator Obama became the first African-American candidate for the US Presidency. I followed the race closely and at times during the debates and speeches, the candidates had utter disregard for the opponent. I guess thats what you call politics. By May, Obama was targetting Republican candidate John McCain for his policies and ties to George W. Bush.

Last tuesday, when the decision was made about Obama winning, McCain gave a speech in Louisiana where there were 600 (disinterested) people inside the auditorium and about 600 outside. McCain's speech was outright boring. He looked at the teleprompter for almost every line that he spoke and once he finished his "punch-sentences", the audience were forced to applaud and laugh at his sarcasm pointed towards Obama.

On the other hand, Obama energized 17,000 people inside and 15,000 outside the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. His speeches are generally brilliant. He makes his speeches look so natural and powerful that it does not for once seem that he is reading from a TV in front of him. And unlike McCain's speech, the applause and ovation begins before Obama can finish most of his punch-sentences. I liked most of his speeches except for the ones on Iraq. He says he is going to pull out all the US forces from here at the earliest and he is disappointed that Iraqi government does not do too much to rebuild the country. I guess he forgot it was his government that destroyed the nation by continuously bombing the country for the past 5 years. Approximately 100,000 Iraqis have died and dozens are still dying everyday because of suicide bombings and communal clashes between Sunnis and Shiites. Obama needs to be reminded that it is the US government's responsibility to rebuild Iraq and not leave that to the Iraqi government. Some of his policies are no different from the other politicians (for eg: - bring back manufacturing jobs back to the US, stop dependencies on foreign oil etc.) Other than that, he looks fit to me to become the US president come November.

Your opinions and suggestions regarding this topic are most welcome .

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Please Help

While I have been blogging for nearly 2 years now and that visitors (like you) are fairly low in number, I would still like to know who you are. Although I know one of my UA friend is a regular here (and yes, it is you Hari), I don't know who are the other frequent fliers. If you choose to remain anonymous, that is also fine, but kindly leave a comment or two in the message box that is on the right side of the webpage. I am trying to get a feel for how often do you stop by. The reason I am asking you to do this is because I need your help. No, it has nothing to do with donations or anything monetary, but here I am in my third month in Bangalore and I am absolutely bored. I need some suggestions to utilize my time efficiently and effectively. Please refrain from suggesting using the gym or joining a book club. These 2 are not my cuppa tea. My mind is 100% blank about extra-curricular activities and I need some 'external' help. One of my closest friends had suggested joining...

Peculiar Observation

Had been to the Hindu Temple today. One of the first things that I noticed about the temple parking lot was that it resembled a used Honda and Toyota car showroom. These two Japanese auto powerhouses have to thank the Indians all around the US for their exceptional sales. And this observation is true about any temple in the US. Pittsburgh Balaji Temple, Aurora Balaji Temple, Lemont Rama Temple etc are the few huge temples that I have visited and have been pleasantly shocked to see the number of Hondas and Toyotas in the parking lots. Lexus and Mercedes are also catching up. Seems the Indian diaspora is not gravely affected by the recession. They were/are smart about the money they earned. Talking about car sales, almost everyone from GM to Ford to Chrysler to Toyota to Honda to Nissan have seen their car sales decline by double digits. American automakers are struggling to sell their "bad" products to the consumers and this time unlike earlier years, the consumer knows better...

Calling Chennai

Made a quickie to Chennai over the weekend for some 'official' work. Details about this official work to follow in the upcoming blog. The last time I was in Tamil Nadu, it was way back in 1996 and on a trip to Chennai and Madurai with parents in tow. Just wrote Class X exams (then) and (the whole family) wanted a breather. No vivid memories of the city from back then but where I was put up during this trip certainly left a good impression on yours truly. Auto's still trying to rip customers not accustomed to bargaining or not from the city or state at all. Thanks to the advice of a colleague, my wallet wasn't (that) lighter after the hefty extortion, I mean, the hefty charge to go from Koyambedu to Royapettah. The cruelest and mindboggling part is that ALL autos are equipped with electronic meters. Fair game right, wrong. One colleague who had been to TN many a times, recalled that while Jayalalitha was the CM, every auto had to use the meter, but as power changed hands...