Deliberately, I've tried to keep politics off this blog. Can I let out a small woohoo though?

From the perspective of an expat and a traveler, too often I am asked, how did the US ever elect this Bush character? And I never know what to tell them, because I never got it either. The difference I've felt already since Obama surged ahead is palpable. There is a new respectability for the US in Australia and, from everything I can discern, the world. It's not an illusion, because I've surrounded myself with like-thinking people or anything; look at any opinion poll from outside the US.

I can only hope this is the end of Atwatery politics. It was a joy to see it fail, this time. Was it because of the internet? I think so, maybe. It was a joy to see it fail, and a shame to see McCain to give into those influences. In the end, if his concession speech was any indicator, he was a better man than many of his supporters.

It's not hard to predict what happens next. Obama will glide into office with a huge wave of optimism. After a few months it will be tempered by reality as he begins to take on the difficult problems he's up against. He will make some mistakes, and galvanize the right, who will find plenty of reasons to villify him. And then, the character issue comes in. We'll see what happens then, but I'm hopeful.

If you're worried, he's not going to steal your money and give it to the poor -- that was a lie told and repeated in an effort to win an election. The truth is, though, that the US has joined the rest of the Western world, by electing a man who is, by all accounts, a reasonable, intelligent consensus builder. And for tonight, it feels mighty good.