Tears and joy for Obama’s victory

TEARS came to my flushed face as I watched reports of elderly black women, born maybe one or two generations free from slavery, in the US as they queued to vote on polling day.

They cried that their day had come to be really set free with the election of Barack Obama, now president-elect of the USA.

But what a man is Barack Obama as we have got to know him over the last two years or so?

Obama’s distinguished gait; his presence; his warm smile; his magnificent ability to speak calmly and yet with passion; to reach across almost every boundary to every race in the US and abroad; his sensitivity to feel for his roots and acknowledge what his family have done for him and how generous people have been in donations of a few dollars and more to help him on his way.

He has been magnaminous to his family roots and he wants to help the marganilised — he wants to give the voiceless a voice, a hearing and hopefully a solution.

He loves his wife, Michelle — his best friend — and his daughters. He is not afraid to show his emotions and shed a sincere public tear for his late grandmother.

I wish Barack Obama success as president of the United States and I hope he can stay true to his persona.

Michael O'Connor

18 Millbrook Court

Mill Road

Midleton

Co Cork