Obama-McCain: the Day of the Truth

The last year I lived in the United States was 1992. This was the year that the Bush One era ended. Now, in 2008, I have returned from Italy to live here and I am witnessingthe end of Bush Two. Whatever the result of the 2008 election, there is one thing we know for sure: the time of Bush will end!

It is difficult to avoid paying attention to the political debate and all the election phenomena this time. When I lived in Italy I lost interest in the political debate. I didn’t vote for several years. My vote didn’t seem to matter. I saw no actual difference between the opposite camps. Italy, for example, followed the US lead in foreign politics regardless of who was in the government. The Italian soldiers were sent to the US wars regardless of who was elected. Even when the most leftists parties were in power the soldiers went to war. I felt I had absolutely no power to change the course of history with my vote. That doesn’t mean I had no possibility of influencing the future, but my vote was not the instrument to do that, since none of the parties in the political arena had the will to create a future of peace.

Looking at the McCain-Obama campaign I asked myself the same question: will it matter who will win? Will that change the course of history? As a matter of fact, if you look at the 21^st century you will notice that all the major wars were started under a democratic president: WWI, WWII, the Korean and the Vietnam War.

Will it then matter if Obama or McCain will be the president?

Right now it is the economic crisis that is the real issue that captures the attention of the American public. In this respect, as in others, I am very optimist. They say that the night is always darkest before dawn and I think that dawn is near. The system is ill, but illness is the first step that a body takes towards healing, it is a reaction and the system is definitely reacting. It won’t be a pleasant time for many the one that comes, but we will survive and we will be able to start building a new world.

Using a Star Wars metaphor, I think that the Emperor lost his war once and for all: it did strike back once, but then it lost and there was no hope for it. In this regard I believe that whatever will be the result of the election, the path to change is irreversible. It’s impossible to go backwards.

I do not think that this election will change the course of history, because light is winning over darkness and that cannot be changed, it can be slowed down, but not changed.

What captured my attention during the debates was the foreign policy issue, because I think that is where the future will be built. The position on Iran of the two candidates, where Obama called for dialogue and McCain for hostility, reminded me of a scene from the Fifth Element. In the movie, starring Bruce Willis, a giant evil thing is approaching the Earth and the president orders to destroy it. At that point a monk reminds him that violence only makes evil bigger, because that is what it is fed with. Feed evil with violence, fear, hostility and it will get bigger. I don’t know if there is evil in Iran, but I believe that McCain’s approach will only make things worse.

November 4^th is an important date in Italian history: 90 years ago it was the date that ended World War I; it was the date when the Empire (the Austrian) fell and freedom was established. Every year it is a date of celebration, the day of victory.

Obama brings a new fresh wind in the American politics: his young age makes him not yet corrupted by the Washington politics, his words of hope and change bring new energy in a country that is on its knees.

America can still be the land of freedom and of dreams, the land where everything is possible and the sky is the limit. In the last 8 years they have made it the land of fear, of restrictions, and of collective depression.

All this can change now. An American friend of mine is coming from Holland to vote and that is not just because a vote can make the difference. It is because he wants to put his signature on this change, he wants to be part of the Americans that on November 4^th will choose hope over fear, change over stagnation, freedom over control and will start building the new American Dream. Because what you believe, you can create and Obama believes in a better world, a new world, very different from the one that was created in the last 8 years.

And to me is given the privilege to witness all this, like I did 8 years ago. And this time for the Empire there is no hope to strike back: November 4^th will become a date to celebrate and remember not only in Italy, but also in the US and the rest of the world.

GO OBAMA SKYWALKER!