Introduction

Abstract

The election of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth President of the United States of America was a historic event. The epochal rise to power by an African American was truly a momentous occurrence. It was a shining example of the equality of all human beings, a significant marker in the present age, when the American people rose above and beyond their prejudices to vote for him. This also truly reflected the “Spirit of America” and epitomized its democratic values. It was a beacon for the beginning of a new world, a hope of change from the past, when racial superiority and other forms of biases divided the human race. America being the crucible and melting pot of different races, cultures, and even civilizations could once again show a new path to the rest of humanity. Obama is more than the personification of African American achievement, he is a bridge between races as well as a bridge to the new millennium’s dream of equality; a living symbol of tolerance in an age when sectarian and racial divides seem deeply rooted and intractable. His election heralds a positive change for the rest of the world, asking it to cast aside the relics of racial and other prejudices relating to the categorization of the human race. This sentiment is reflected in Alfred Tennyson’s poem, “The Idylls of the King,” which tells the classic story of King Arthur’s struggle to maintain order despite the monumental upheaval facing his kingdom,

The old order changeth, yielding place to new,

And God fulfils Himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom corrupt the world.

…

And the new sun rose bringing the new year.¹