barack obama wins (part 1)

man he can give a speech
it was like he had won the ultimate prize
not just the first state in the first part of the process
to select the candidate that will stand in the november election
some interesting statistics out of the iowa caucus election (as they call it)
an underwhelming 12% of registered party members bothered to vote
something like 230,000 people in total on the democrat side
though a huge increase on the numbers in 2004
37% of the democrats voted for barack obama
so about 85,000 people gave barack the nod
the most interesting statistic is that iowa is 95% white
so from that you would assume he has overcome the race barrier
some other interesting facts about the man of the moment
he is aged at just 46, born in honolulu, kenyan father, american mother
spent a number of school years in jakarta, indonesia
and has travelled extensively throughout other parts of the world
has lobbied for legislation regarding climate change and arms control
on democracy now tonight they played all the speeches
from the main contenders in each of the 2 main parties
all the same stuff really - america will be great again, etc
but if the next president is elected on oratory skills
which let's face it is a huge factor on the day
then barack obama will romp it in
it was all quite impressive speech-making
it seemed to be straight off the cuff
no specifics mentioned about his policies
just a lot of rousing united we stand kind of talk
and a few lines about hope that may well reverberate historically
i can't remember the last time i watched a u s president
give a speech that seemed even slightly sincere
it made the other guys (and girl) sound flat and rehearsed
hillary did well with 30% - apparantly iowa likes blokes in charge
have never elected a woman to any significant office
so maybe she can claw it back in other states
the other good news from the day is bye-bye rudi
giuliani came 6th in the republican vote
maybe they don't like divorcees in iowa either
not sure about this huckabee dude
he who won the republican vote in iowa
he who has made some startling comments
mainly in reference to who one chooses as a sexual partner
and other issues that were discussed in some past century
before anyone had even heard of climate change
and other slightly more significant challenges today
not sure what barack obama will do about those problems
but you have got to suspect his age for one is a factor
they say as in the recent australian federal election
the so-called youth vote is now of huge significance
they want someone with some long term planning
seems the youngest candidate from either party
may well win the ultimate prize
it's going to be a long year
lots of barack-ing yet
as per the big speech
we live in hope