The Battle For President

In the most expensive campaign ever, Barack Obama finally won the race to the White House and made history by becoming the first ever black president of the United States. In doing so he beat veteran and Vietnamese war prisoner John McCain.

Opinion polls all along showed Obama with a clear and steady lead but nothing was certain till ELection Day. Would Americans actually vote for a black president?? -- This was the question on everyone's minds. But in the end Obama emerged a clear winner and also won the popular vote.

The battle was never easy.

Huge campaign rallies, thirty minute infomercials on TV, automated robo-calls, spoofs,comedy shows, mud-slinging, taking pot shots at each other-- this campaign had it all.

One of the main reasons why McCain lost was because he was a Republican and would continue Bush's policies of which the people were sick and tired of.

Also by introducing Sarah Palin as his running mate, McCain made a huge mistake. Her inexperience and incapability clearly showed when she failed to name a newspaper she reads or any Supreme Court decision she disagreed with. According to her the $700 billion bailout passed to provide stability to the financial markets was about healthcare!! She was also in a controversy regarding her wardrobe which headlines showed she had spent $150,000 on and that too from the Republican Party's fund. Numerous polls and surveys showed that Palin was actually hurting McCain's chances.

However, from the Indian perspective McCain might have been better. Obama actually voted against issuing more H1-B work permit visas and wants to reduce outsourcing to make indigenous Americans the good jobs. All this has been giving sleepless nights to BPOs in India whose major chunk of business comes from America. On the other hand, John McCain favours outsourcing and wanted more work visas.

Would Obama be the "Change We Need" that he promises to be?? After all one should not forget that he is first time Senator and apart from running a campaign spanning over two years he has practically no political experience. But Joe Biden, the vice presdient elect might have the required credentials as he is a seasoned foreign affairs expert.

Time would surely give the answers...