Politics and religion can be considered two very contentious subject matters for discussion, and usually most persons, myself included, tend to stay away from discussing such topics openly due to the emotions they can stir up. This week I will not get into a political discussion, but it would truly be remiss of me, if I did not discuss the historic event that took place on Tuesday, November 4, 2008.

For the first time in American history, an African- American in quite literally the truest sense of that terminology, is the President-elect of the United States of America

Barak Hussein Obama has direct linkages to the ‘the motherland’
unlike many who need to go back decades to find any in that he is the son of a native of Kenya in Africa, Barack Obama Sr.

and an American from Kansas Ann Dunham.

Barack Obama for the past 21 months has been promoting the need for ‘CHANGE’ in America, and change he got!

Obama used different creative strategies in his bid to win the election. The most important of which was the embracing of information technology using it in different ways to obtain his ultimate objective. First, he used technology to put feelers out to determine the level of support he’d receive on his campaign bid to the presidency, by releasing a video, available online. Is a presidencial campaign for me? Is there a better way to test the waters in a comprehensive fashion. Think of the time, man power and the like saved using this medium as opposed to having hundreds, maybe thousands of persons on the ground doing surveys to get the same responses.

Most importantly, Obama set up a web site. This to me was one of his greatest communications tools which can be considered instrumental to his victory. The web site allowed persons to make , get to know him and his wife better, meet his running mate, get information on his policies, know where to vote, how to volunteer, etc.

As if this wasn’t enough to generate buzz, Obama made history by announcing his vice-presidential candidate using text-messaging. What an ingenius !

Given that the younger generation thrives on technology, using this medium so comprehensively worked in Obama’s favor as seen in these elections statistics.

Separate from using technology, Obama also had a 50 state strategy to increase voter registration
resulting in winning the necessary electoral votes.

Obama’s creative strategy for the 2008 presidential election enabled his campaign to function like a worked like a well oiled machine and afforded him the distinction of being the first African-American to be elected president and as of January 20, 2009, to enjoy another distinction as the 44th president of the United States.

Winning campaigns by using creative strategies seem to be the new wave of this century. In 2004, history was made in Antigua & Barbuda as well. Since gaining Independence in 1981, the government of Antigua & Barbuda was the Antigua Labour Party. Sir Vere Cornwall Bird, considered the father of the nation, was the country’s first prime minister until his son took over the reigns in 1994, until that fateful day on March 23, 2008.

Not that it would be fair to compare Obama’s campaign strategy to that of the current administration, but the to me was the same. Both campaigns focused on ‘change’, both worked to energize persons to register to vote and in both instances the voter turnout was a key factor, resulting in decisive victories. In our 2004 elections, the new UPP administration won 12 of the 17 parliamentary seats available.

President-elect Obama has a challenging road ahead of him and only time will tell how he copes.

As usual, I leave you this week with a video, “yes we can” in keeping with this week’s topic.

Till next week, happy reading.