Can an Obama victory change voting patterns in Guyana?

Nov 04, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

We are not going to know the elections results in the U.S. presidential race until the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Late into this evening, some trends will emerge based on the returns of some states. But it would not be until Wednesday morning that we will see an irreversible pattern.

There isn’t an independent polling organization that has put John Mc Cain in front the past month; not even before then, except at the end of the Republican Convention when there was that surge. So, it looks like Barack Obama will win.

The tale of Barack Obama is an unusual one. Where to begin in one’s analysis of this remarkable human being and how to start assessing him as a creator of history is not easy, for one simple reason – we are looking at a phenomenon that does not come often in life.

Mr. Obama seems to be that special person who has that unique capacity to galvanize the world. Indeed he has. Mr. Obama has captured the imagination of Planet Earth’s inhabitants.

In Germany, more than a hundred thousand persons turned up to hear him speak. All around the world, people are interested in seeing this man come to power as the President of the United States.

It seems that we are witnessing the coming of that special person that only appears once in a lifetime. In ways that have not yet been reported on, his influence may be changing the course of politics in many, many countries.

Guyana may be such an example. The top brass in the PPP has endorsed him over Mc Cain. Is it possible that, with his charisma sweeping the world, authoritarian rulers may want to change some of their ingrained habits?

That may very well happen. There are insensitive rulers out there, as in Guyana, who may want to experiment with the politics of Barack Obama.

If an oligarch can see that Barack Obama has swept the world off its feet because of his undying desire to change the U.S. for the better with his appeal to justice and welfare for the hard-working people of the U.S. and for Government to govern in the interest of people, then his ideas may invoke a conscience within those hardened rulers who feel that it is power, not people, that counts.

Don’t forget, these are autocrats out there who may want to redeem themselves by trying to emulate Barack Obama.

If he wins by a handsome margin (a plethora of respected polls indicate that he will), can the unique content of his victory influence the way East Indians think here and in the Diaspora? If Obama secures the presidency, then he would have secured a victory based on the over-zealous impulse of voters to put change over race.

Make no mistake that Barack Obama is African-American. He may have been born to a white mother and been raised by a white grandmother, but he looks African-American and does not have a Caucasian appearance.

In the American context, Barack Obama is an African-American. His wife is African-American; his two girls are African American.

It begins and ends there. Americans are warming up to Barack Obama, not because they want to give an African-American a chance at the White House, but because they want a break with the past.

They want the United States to embrace a new horizon where Government will be caring, responsible and inclusive.

Here is a seminal point in his campaign. Rachel Maddow asked him why is it that he criticises George Bush and his acolytes, but not the Republican Party. His answer was so assuring.

He told his interviewer that there are people in the Republican Party who want change and he will want to have those people in his embrace rather than alienate them. This is the measure of the man.

If Obama wins tomorrow, then it is likely that many countries with unchanging voting patterns may undergo transformation. One hopes Guyana will be one of them. It will not depend on the penetration of the Obama success story alone. The ground forces in Guyana will have to build on what the Obama phenomenon has done for the world.

This is a country that literally cries out for voting change. One day this change has to come. From tomorrow, if an Obama victory is achieved, those who want to see East Indians move away from the PPP, as African voters did with the PNC in 2006, will have to start the composition of their blueprint.

Guyana may be different from the U.S., but we should kill our pessimism and start working for a transformation of the way East Indians vote in this country. Guyana cries out for an example like Barack Obama. In 2011, vote for change.

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Can an Obama victory change voting patterns in Guyana?

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