Keep Going
The mid terms elections in America have presented a wide range of lessons to people across the world. The defeat of the Democrats by the Grand Old Party in the House of Representatives and a slight drop in the Senate stronghold is a teller to the fact that people never learn and the only thing we learn is how to never learn. Nancy Pelosi will have to step down as the House `speaker to be replaced by John Boehner. A number of key senators and governors crucial to president Obama governance and potential 2012 re-election bid have been shown the door. This comes with the full knowledge by the voters that for eight years America saw a decline in its status as the leader in every sphere of the world under George Bush. The economy went into a recession, which resulted in millions, losing their jobs and the Housing market going into the rot.
You would all remember in February 2007, when the son of a Kenyan decided to declare his candidature at a well-attended rally in Springfield, not many people thought he was serious. In fact, many wrote him off just as others had written off Winston Churchill as a nothing more than a whisky guy in Britain many years ago. But Barrack Obama would not be intimidated. With little money to bankroll his campaigns, his vision for America backed up by a rhetoric that resonated with the aspirations o the young people started winning him over. Children would convince their parents to support this wonder kid. Senior citizens like the late Ann Nixon `Cooper had waited so many decades for a day when a president with black roots would step into the white house.
Presented with the ominous challenge of getting the Democrat ticket, Obama had to face established names in the primaries. He surprised many when he took the Iowa Caucus and people started to notice that this was a person not to be ignored. But in the consecutive primaries, he lost heavily to Hilary Clinton. He did not do well at the Potomac Primaries neither did he finish the job on Super Tuesday. Many expected him to especially win the New Hampshire primary given the backing he had received from Ted Kennedy. But Hilary, once again surprised him! But Obama did not panic. He kept fighting until the final primaries.
Moreover, Obama did not panic when John McCain tapped Sarah Palin and jumped ahead in the polls. He did not panic when the financial system collapsed, the auto industry was near liquidation, or his health care bill was about to die. In every one of those cases, Obama or the causes he supported prevailed. And there are some good reasons not to panic.
Obama and his allies have accomplished an entire term's worth of legislation in just two years; Financial regulation, direct student lending, the Recovery Act, and health care reform-that's a record of accomplishment unmatched in recent history. Losses were inevitable at the midterms
One constant in Obama’s record is his assumption that American people will act like political grown-ups—that, when presented with a choice between a party that takes governing seriously and one that does not, they will choose the former. That is what will keep him going.
Such is the inspiration that many see in Obama; A leader with a ‘never say die attitude’, a leader who embraces defeats but strives to make amends. Such is the kind that we keep looking out for in Kenya.
