First up, Will from KABOBFest let's the United States in on a little secret:

Barack HUSSEIN Obama is indeed an Arab-Muslims Socialist. Ha ha, viva la revulocion!

From Canada, Rebellious Arab Girl looks highly on the new United States of America:

We finally have a hope now for a better future of this world. Thank you Americans for voting this year for a change! Us Canadians salute you.

Dissecting Left, living in Australia, is not so sanguine. In fact, in a post written before the election, he feels whoever wins will mark the death-knell for the United States:

No matter who wins Tuesday America is going to be a different country. When the sun rises on November 5, regardless of who the president-elect is, a more un-United States than has existed since the Civil War will wake to dispute the results of the disgusting campaign that has mercifully come to an end.

Whoever the losers, they will believe they were cheated, and will point fingers at those they believe responsible. Almost half the nation will view the winner as illegitimate, and will do everything in their power to undermine his authority as long as he's in the White House. With this animosity will come a new level of hatred between those of differing political persuasions like nothing our country has experienced in the modern era. Putting it bluntly, and without sounding too much like Rev. Jeremiah “G-d Damn America” Wright, there will be no such thing as Americans anymore.

Instead, there'll be Democrats and Republicans, Liberals and Conservatives, and encounters between the members of these groups will for years nay decades be at best unfriendly, and at worst quite hostile if not downright violent.

For obvious reasons, Kenyans have followed this election in unrivaled interest. The Kenyan Pundit discusses what Obama will mean to the country.

Like most of the rest of the world, I’m hoping that I’m waking up to a moment in history. Beyond the sheer glee of an Obama victory, there’s just the awesomeness of having been around during what will be one for the record books. During my student days I remember being wistful at times when hearing about historic leaders and historic times, and now there’s an opportunity to live it. A lot of ink has been spilled over why Obama is popular globally and just how disappointed people will be because of high expectations - I think that’s missing the larger point. Will Obama under-deliver, probably yes. But when was the last time an individual (especially that young people can relate to) inspired THE WORLD to think that things could be different and better, and that there is such a thing as a non-crappy politician?

And for those (Kenyans) who are being derisive about Kenyans trying to “own” Obama. Bah! Yes, it’s unrealistic to think that his election will change U.S. policy practically as far as Kenya goes, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Kenyans going overboard with Obama-mania and what he represents for us.

Now if only we can translate our aspirations for him to our aspirations for Kenyan leaders! Would Barack Obama have made it as a Kenyan politican (or even African) - almost certainly not…we excel in trashing intellectual, ethical, different, individuals who want to participate in public service. In Obama’s own words, “…For as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible.” Lets work to change this people.

Staying with Africa and its diaspora for a moment, let's check in on OmoTaylor over at African Loft:

OBAMA IS PRESIDENT. THE DEMOCRATS HAVE WON. UP AFRICAN AMERICANS. UP UP MY BLACK RACE. HISTORY IS MADE.

GOD PLEASE HELP BARACK OBAMA MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS IN AMERICA. AMERICA’S FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT.

I REST MY CASE, TIME TO CELEBRATE.

FATHER LORD JEHOVAH I THANK YOU
WE THANK YOU.

At the PoliGazette site in the Netherlands, an open thread debated what significance Obama's race played in the election. First up, we have Marc:

Well, it’s a historical event and a great moment when an African-American has been elected president of the U.S. There’s no denying that, and even if the basis for that election is more flash than substance, Barack Obama does give all Americans the opportunity to put our racial divide in our rear-view mirror. I hope that happens; I’d just prefer a more fiscally responsible individual make that happen.

From Interested:

i guess, myself I could care less about the individuals race, although I can recognize the significance. What I generally liked about Obama was he comes across as seeming to be eager to do well.

Guess we’ll find out.

And Orson Buggeigh:

Good luck, Mr. President Elect. I sincerely hope that Obama will be able to resist the pressure from his own party to turn left, and that he will, indeed, make good on his promise to be “all of America’s president.” That is not going to be easy, and the economic problems facing him are huge. Still, in some ways, while it’s easy to heap the praise on him at his hour of success, the real proof of his abilities will not be seen tonight, but in two years.

The Swedish Fisherman provides an update on how the cultural and political elite of Sweden — along with the rest of the country — became fascinated with the U.S. election.

But while Swedes have a history of keeping an eye on US politics, Ljunggren said that the country has paid particularly close attention to the 2008 campaign for a variety of reasons.

“Swedes were very surprised when [John] Kerry lost in 2004, but they learned something from it,” he said, explaining that the experience taught people not to confuse expectations with reality when it comes to US politics.

In the intervening years the Swedish press and Swedes in general have worked hard at becoming better educated about what drives US politics, [political commentator Stig-Björn] Ljunggren said, with the 2008 election being something of a final exam for what they’ve learned.

“This time it won’t only be Swedes who are surprised if Obama loses, as everyone I talk to here in the US also expects him to win,” said Ljunggren.

“There are echoes of Kennedy…people are seeing the dawn of a new era,” he added.

Zack, originally from Pakistan, writes for the Procrastination blog, and volunteered at the Obama campaign in Georgia. Here are a few of his dispatches from Election Night:

8:35am: I am at the staging location in South Atlanta. Already at one of the polling places here, the line is more than 2 hours long.

10:39am: The morning rush at the polls has lessened now.

11:51am: Sent out volunteers to go knock on doors to get people out to vote. Also, sent phone lists to volunteers to call.

12:55pm: There are so many people here to volunteer, it’s difficult to even find work for them.

…

9:25pm: With Ohio projected as an Obama win by NBC and Fox News, I now project Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. Go Obama!

9:47pm: I didn’t blog it but told my fellow volunteers on the Obama campaign that Obama will net around 350 electoral votes and he looks on track for that.

9:59pm: I have been watching CNN since coming home. Now I am switching to Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert special.

11:00pm: Polls close on the West Coast and it’s official. President-elect Barack Obama!

11:32pm: A very nice concession speech by McCain, despite some booing from the crowd.

Here's an interesting post from our very own Kevin Rennie, who runs the Labor View from Bayside blog, based out of Australia.

One of our TV presenters has just suggested that there was a fair bit of evangelical fervour about Barack Obama's victory speech. What really impressed me was that he didn't rev up the crowd. He chose not to join their attempts to turn the slogan “Yes We Can” into a mindless chant. He challenged them with ideas not theatre. His performance was controlled and rational. He is the teacher not the preacher.

Finally, England For Obama had this tribute of the long, hard road to the White House:

Its been one hell of a show, I can’t quite believe its finally over.

When I started this site back in February I had no real belief that Obama would make it this far. He was the underdog and Clinton was a shoe in for the Democratic nomination.

The best I hoped for at the time was maybe a VP nomination. At very least I wanted to help give more airtime to someone I saw as an inspirational figure that the world just had to see to believe.

Some will say the campaign was too long, but it wasn’t long enough.

As John McCain might say, my friends, democracy works.

Ironically, Africa quietly nudged its way into the policy debate by two unlikely supporters of sitting President George Bush, who recently argued his legacy in Africa provided the continent a substantial commitment from the U.S., surpassing the work of most other presidents. Another issue: Wednesday, October 1 marked the day the United States African Command became operational. AFRICOM, as it is popularly known, is a unified command of the U.S. military that is responsible for U.S. military operations within nearly every African country. Previously, the U.S. military divided Africa amongst three different commands. Some U.S. commentators claim it will allow the military to increase bilateral relations with African militaries. However, AFRICOM has never been popular among African leaders or citizens, who have attempted to link the military project to the U.S. growing thirst for African oil.

With this in mind, the McCain and Obama campaigns recently outlined their vision and objectives for Africa. Nonetheless, a U.S. foreign policy expert argued at a recent seminar that whoever wins the election will largely continue President Bush’s African strategy, including ending the “genocide” in Darfur; fighting corruption; and, finding a political solution for the Zimbabwe crisis.

Regardless of not having a place at the table, many Africans and African bloggers have followed the U.S. presidential race with keen interest.

Xcroc, writing in African Loft, finds the nuances of Obama’s policy towards Africa may be quite different from Bush’s. In fact, Obama’s willingness to “strengthen relationships with those governments, institutions and civil society organizations committed to deepening democracy, accountability and reducing poverty in Africa” is a clear break from the president.

The Bush people did not consult with Africans before creating and announcing AFRICOM. Bush Cheney want diplomatic and development functions to be controlled by the Pentagon. They talk about partnerships, but when they do talk to Africans, they talk to military men who are graduates of US military training programs such as IMET. So generally Bush and cronies hear only what they want to hear. Obama presents a refreshing willingness to deal with a wided spectrum of people, institutions, and business, not just the military.

Xcroc also opposed McCain’s plan, which was written by J. Peter Pham, who he calls a “neocon” and “a supporter and apologist” for AFRICOM.

Like most neocons, his answer to the world’s problems is US military intervention. In his writings he is very much concerned with security, “ungoverned spaces”, and al Qaeda in Africa. The most positive thing in his presentation is his call to end cotton subsidies in the US, ending the unfair subsidized competition with African cotton producers.

Taking a step back, let’s look at President Bush’s legacy. Sean Jacobs from Africa is a Country contends that the president’s policies towards Africa may be in many ways impressive, they are not uncontested.

America says it wants to create a different legacy for the United States on the continent that emphasises partnership, democracy and respect, but democracy activists cannot square this with some recent actions. The US was the first western government to declare the violence in Darfur genocide, but the CIA has also been accused of working with Sudan’s notorious state security agency. US officials insist that the two issues — condemning genocide and partnership with Sudan to fight terrorism — are unrelated.

The Ethiopian President, Meles Zenawi, who won a biased and fraudulent election in 2005 (more than 200 people were killed in election violence), remains a key US ally. With tacit American backing, he invaded Somalia to remove an Islamist government that had some popular legitimacy and replace it with one run by weak warlords. As Reuters reported last week: “That government and the Ethiopians are now bogged down in an Iraq-style insurgency while Somali suffering has increased.”

In December last year, the US was quick to declare flawed Kenyan elections free and fair despite internal intelligence that its ally, Mwai Kibaki, had been defeated.



Now comes the official unveiling of Africom, the US military’s new regional command to coordinate its military affairs on the continent. Until now, these responsibilities were divided between its regional headquarters in Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific. US officials are spending much of their time on the defensive about Africom’s motives. The catastrophic American military presence in Iraq does not help their cause. Since it was first publicly mooted in 2003, plans for Africom have been vague, ill-defined, confusing, and in many ways doomed. Some critics, including US congressmen and the Washington-based Africa Action, have described Africom as “the militarisation of US aid to Africa” since its arrival coincides with increased US military sales, financing and training expenditure on African countries seen as strategic for the “war on terror”. The military, clearly skittish, has announced that, for now, the Africom headquarters will be in Stuttgart, Germany.

In many ways, Africans — and people from elsewhere — are looking at the prospects of what a possible Obama victory would bring to the political culture in their own countries. From Che Oyimnatumba in the blog Which Way Nigeria:

Can a rookie called Obama emerge in the murky ideologically barren political Nigerian landscape? Barack Obama crossed the Rubicon of history with an audacity of hope that can only be found in the dreams from my father when he dusted an Amazon and experienced Hilary Clinton to pick the Democratic Party nomination…This prophesy is already real even if George Bush’s brother in Florida feeds the crocodiles with votes on November 4th  or takes a lesson from INEC.  Obama has rekindled hope in every oppressed group, especially blackman in “gods own country” that yes WE CAN live our dreams by being the CHANGE WE NEED.

Also from Nigeria, Oro in Gbenga Sesan writes:

I have spent much of the month speaking to various youth groups about the need for our generation to stand up to the task of nation building, including the day spent discussing The Audacity of Hope in Ibadan. Everyone’s got Obama’s name (and possible post-November 4 story) on their lips but how many young Nigerians have thought about daring to macth our hope with deserving action? One question that keeps coming my way in each meeting is: “With the way our youth want to hammer by all means, are we not in trouble?”

Finally, for you policy wonks, The Angry African on the Loose, a South African living in the U.S., takes John McCain to task for his tax policies.

McCain is attacking Obama for wanting to raise the taxes of the wealthiest of Americans. One key line of argument from McCain is that the top 1% of Americans will pay almost 35% of American taxes under the Obama plan. That just doesn’t sound right. That is just unfair. It isn’t just. Why should 1% pay so much of the taxes? Well… Because that same 1% also own almost 35% of America’s net worth. That’s why. Mr McCain.

If you own 35% then it makes perfect sense that 35% of the taxes will come from you. Easy economics. Not socialism. Just easy economics.

And before I forget. Just 10% of the population owns 71% of America’s wealth… I expect that 10% to pay 71% of the taxes…

I won’t even mention that “in a survey of 120 major cities, New York was found to be the ninth most unequal in the world and Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, and Miami had similar inequality levels to those of Nairobi, Kenya and Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Many were above an internationally recognised acceptable “alert” line used to warn governments”. I won’t go into that. Just saying that the distribution of wealth in America is beyond unfair. It ranks with the most unjust systems in the world…

As the speech begins, African Twitter users are having fun translating Obama's trademark phrase, “Yes We Can” into different African languages. From Kenya, afromusing starts the trend with Swahili:

dnashong, originally from Ghana, shares more ways to say we can:

kaysha remarks upon Africa's need for a figure like Obama:

dnashong responds:

He then corrects himself to say “you know I should've said Africa's new leaders. I mean US!”

Malagasy lrakoto admits his excitement for Obama's reactions:

Although it goes without saying that non-U.S. citizens have a number of reasons for their interest in the U.S. elections, Trinidadian nplaughlin puts it best when he says:

Bahraini amiraalhussaini quips:

Finally, Nigerian kuikihoro seems disappointed that Obama's speech ended so quickly:

But this is not how some of my countrymen in Nigeria see him. He’s their brother; he’s black; he’ll save Africa!

One of those people is Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuke, the Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Ndidi is the Chairman of the Africans for Obama 2008, a Nigeria-based pro-Obama group. Speaking in Lagos while inaugurating ‘Africans for Obama Presidency’ in June, she said, “the policies of Obama will have effect for Africa, not only the world, because he believes in Africa.”

On August 12, Ndidi and her friends held a fund raising dinner for Obama at the MUSON Center Lagos.

The price tag?

About $2,500 to 20,000USD per plate!

Their goal is to raise 100 million Naira (about 1 million USD) to mobilize the five million Africans in United States to support and vote for Obama in November.

There are many things wrong with this. Even if there are five million Africans with American voters registration cards, is it legal for a non-American pressure group to embark on political advocacy projects within America?

Was Ndidi and co aware of “The US Foreign Election Campaign Act (FECA) 1974?”

I don’t think so.

The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly. It is also unlawful to help foreign nationals violate that ban or to solicit, receive or accept contributions or donations from them. Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to fines and/or imprisonment.

One thing is clear about most Nigerians, including our dear Ndidi: An obsession for foreign ready-made products. This obsession manifests in every facet of life in Nigeria. Now some have seen Obama as a prime object for that obsession.

Did Obama get to be the first American black presidential candidate because he had people like Ndidi supporting him?

Wouldn’t it be great if the Ndidis of Nigeria (and their rich friends) re-channel their obsessive energy toward something more practical and relevant to their immediate society?

Rather that obsessing over an ‘American Obama’, how about helping to create a local system that would produce a ‘Nigerian Obama’, say within the next five years?

His nomination is not only historical (being the first African-American) but also of crucial importance for democracy. He was able to cross the racial divide, and mobilize millions of younger voters yearning for change from old US policies that have lost touch with reality. Once again, the world is in a position to see the US in different light, and Obama should be particularly proud for playing a key role.

Mr. Obama’s ascent is not only because of his youth and background but also because he promises a radical departure from policies of the Bush administration. The United States of America is currently among the worst poorly rated countries, akin to Mugabe’s Zimbabwe and the failed State of Somalia - the only difference being its global economic influence and superpower status which is quickly eroding thanks to the emergence of alternative superpowers like the combined Asian Tigers and the larger European Union.

Africa, a continent once dismissed by Mr. Bush as “not fitting into the U.S national strategic interests”, has not gained much under the Bush administration. His last 5 day tour of the continent was just that, a tour through a region that doesn’t mean much to America. This was made clear in an interview with Bob Geldof aboard Air Force One en route to Ghana, back in February when President Bush said that he believed America was in an ideological struggle with extremism, people who prey on the hopeless - a situation which breeds terrorism. “That's why this trip is a mission undertaken with the deepest sense of humanity, because those other folks will just use vulnerable people (Africa) for evil. Like in Iraq.” Bush spoke of his mission to Africa.

Granted, some of Mr. Bush’s international policies especially those concerning Africa are appreciated despite their lopsided nature. For instance the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) largely touted as the best tool to nip the trade imbalance between the US and Africa. The dismantling of the Multi Fibre Agreement's world quota regime for textile and apparel trade in January 2005 reversed gains made due to increased competition from China and other developing countries outside Africa.

AGOA’s failure can be partly attributed to little African involvement in its preparation and the lack of understanding of why it was set up in the first place. Its design is meant to reward countries that do not engage in activities that undermine United States national security or its foreign policy interests and not international trade per se. If for example, America determines that an eligible sub-Saharan African country is not making continual progress in protecting American foreign policy, it will be stripped off its eligibility tag.

The US policies towards the Middle East a key player in OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) have pushed global oil prices to dangerously destructive levels forcing the non oil producing countries especially in Africa to bear the brunt. This among other forces has slowed down global economy. There is surge in the price of basic commodities such food which has led to worldwide protest and increased suffering among the world’s poor. It’s a long chain of destruction whose source is America. It has lost global respect and trust under the Bush administration and needs radical surgery which can only be done by fresh untainted hands. Whoever succeeds President Bush should not loose his bearing given the clear road map ahead.

“We really want to showcase this success story so that we can energize the American people and people in high levels of government to understand this is not only an important partnership, but also an investment in even greater economic development and real opportunities, not only for people in Rwanda, but people in countries all through Africa.”- Senator Frist, US Republican Senator.