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So a historical day has finally arrived. Within a couple of hours America, together with the rest of the world will be welcoming Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. For the very first time in history, there will be a president who’s not white. Only this fact is a real landmark in the rich history of the States, a country where only forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King was killed because of the colour of his skin. Barack Obama is very, very popular. I somewhere read that 7 out of 10 Americans really want him. For the very first time in several decades, this president is the personalisation of the real American dream. Just like Abraham Lincoln, he made it to the very top from a very common background. Just like Abraham Lincoln, who had to unify a country that was divided after the civil war, this president became the president of all Americans because of his promise of hope and change.

And from today onwards, he will have to start working on the hope and change. Hope won’t be a problem, as the rest of the world is supporting him. But his job won’t be easy. His country is at war, and is almost bankrupt. As is the rest of the world, his country is undergoing a huge financial crisis, to be compared with the crisis of the thirties. But another Roosevelt’s ”New Deal” won’t be sufficient enough to get to the necessary change.

America is not alone in this world anymore. Obama will have to seek accordance with Europe, the Middle East, Russia, but also with new economic powers like China, Brasil, India… And the whole world will be watching his reactions on the crisis in the Middle East.

Only yesterday, I went through Alex Haley’s bestseller: Roots. The United States have really come a long way, from Kunta Kinte to Barack Obama.

Unfortunately, however much I would have loved to be sitting in front of my television to watch the events in Washington later today, I will be thirty thousand feet high, flying back to Portugal when Obama will be sworn in.

Let’s hope there won’t be a lunatic among the huge crowd who thinks his historical day has arrived as well.

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