The victory
Congratulations to the newly elected US President Barack Obama! This historical win should hopefully mark the start of change in the American regime and amend the ruins of the former president Bush. I may not be an American, but as we are all aware, America had long time ago dominated our country and now left a great impact to us Filipinos. Many Filipinos believe that this Obama victory will help make a change on our country as well. Possible. But, as for me, this change will not happen unless each of us would start it from our own selves. We have to believe that each of us can make a difference if we want to and not only depend on other people to do it for us. Obama may have the abilities of being someone who can make a change but it is useless if we will not be able to do that ourselves. One man against the world will not do the trick. We have to do it all together.
Early roots
Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.
Barack’s mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton’s army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii.
It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where Barack’s parents met. His mother was a student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.
Barack’s father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.
The College Years
Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.
The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.
He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
(credits: http://www.barackobama.com/about/)
———
It is not proper to judge someone we do not personally know about. But since Barack Obama is already a world-wide household name, it gives me the right to share my own insight about him. *wink*
Based on Obama’s humble beginnings, I can say that he has got what it takes of being a leader. Not only because of his academic achievements but having been a community servant on his early years. To be a leader, you must be a servant first. He also has the gift of being able to inspire people with his empowering speeches. He has values. Though, he does not vocally proclaim his religion, may he be a Christian or Muslim, I believe he is blessed in spirit. His campaign against abortion and gay marriage is a clear notion that he is indeed a God-fearing man — the most vital trait for someone who is given the responsibility to govern a country and influence the world. Now, even the elections are over, let us to continue to support Barack Obama and pray that he will be able to fulfill whatever he has promised.
