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When
I predicted that Obama would win in my column last Sunday I wondered if
I was tempting fate – American elections have a habit of proving
pundits utterly wrong.
Not this time.
Every poll pointed to an Obama victory, and although I have reservations about his policies I can’t deny that this is a truly historic moment. As the president-elect said a few hours ago “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible... tonight is your answer. It’s not just the race issue. Obama entered the US Senate just four years ago, and has pretty much come from nowhere to be leader of the free world. He ran on a tax-cutting message (Tories, take note) and the jihadis will find it a lot harder to recruit when Barack Hussein Obama – not George W Bush – is in the white house.
It’s funny to see David Cameron and Gordon Brown now struggle to associate themselves with Obama. Cameron says “people want change” and brown says “people want government to help them.” I don’t quite remember Obama banging on about “government”- pretty much a swear word in America. But both Obama and Brown have responded quickly to the economic crisis, while both Cameron and McCain seemed lost for words.
Brown will soon be heading over to Washington to be photographed beside Obama. Will this make him look like a sage, or a has-been? Is an Obama presidency likely to make people more or less likely to vote for Cameron? Does anyone have any thoughts?