Change I do believe in

He has done it. Or, strictly speaking, the US citizens have done it. Barack Obama will become the next president of the US. Although this blog is normally climbing oriented and based, this is something extraordinary and amazing, considering the ammount of what he had to overcome, especially during the past weeks when the political race in the US took up a pace that we in Europe can hardly comprehend. There were lies, especially Mrs. Palin, arguably well suited for casting stones at others, was constantly singing the song of Obama being well befriended with a terrorist. 

What I think is that in a time where the world needs consensus concerning the most important issues like global warming, the fight against terrorism, poverty and Aids, a man is needed that brings a difference. We need a change in policy. Even if politically one eyed, one cannot deny the fact that the US still is and will continue to be for the next years the most important and driving force in Western politics. The US sets trends, politically, culturally and economically. Europe, though wanting to be a political player on its own, still needs the US. The US however, also need Europe, considering the mess they are in in Afghanistan or Iraq. The world needs each other, there will be no solution to the global problems of the 21st. century without dialoque and respect. 

Barack Obama will hopefully be the man bringing the difference. He is young and fresh, he is new and other than flip flopping John Kerry, a man whose words you can believe in. He will not work wonders, he is not a wizard making all the issues mentioned above disappear with a wink of his wand but he can be trusted in bringing what is most needed in American politics after eight years of Bush`s government: Change. I do not believe in miracles. 

But I do believe in the next four years of American policy. I will travel to America from February to April. I`m looking forward to coming to a country that in the right time has made the right descision.

Good luck to you, Barack Obama. The world is neither good or bad -it`s what we make it. The next four years (and hopefully the next eight) you`ll do a lot of the shaping...I think you`ll do a good job.