The Cosmopolitan Blog

So Obama had this big dinner this weekend. Today is Tuesday. And STILL, one of the main talking points, every hour on CNN, is the gate crashers, are they, aren’t they. Seriously? Must really be a slow news week. Who gives a freakin’ crap?

CNN has really lowered the barrier to entry for making it in the news. Watch everyone trying to get that 15 minutes of fame now, it’s so easy. You don’t have to have a talent, have anything to say, Read the rest of this entry »

Something new has come to the White House: responsible parenting. I love the fact that, as the leader of his country, Obama sees it as part of his responsibilities to show America how he raises his daughters, and to show examples of successful parenting.

The first time he impressed me was when he refused to let them participate in interviews during the campaign and when he made it a point to tell people that the kids were not left at home with a babysitter every night, but that their grandmother was the one taking care of them.

A few days before he was sworn in, he wrote his daughters a letter. It was moving, beautiful and loving. But more than that, it was showing what place a father can have in his daughter’s life, how he positions himself as the guardian of her future.

He shows that communication is important, and that while it is not expected that every father write their daughter a letter, you can imagine how this would transcribe, in a normal family setting, to regular conversations between a father and a daughter, him sitting on the side of the bed, saying goodnight to her every evening, giving her the kind of comforting advice she will remember for the rest of her life.

A few days ago, we found out that Barack Obama was a night owl and liked working late. Yet he took the time to have dinner with his family before returning to work. Around the same time, Michelle told the press that her agenda, for the first month, was exclusively to take care of ensuring the transition to Washington was a smooth one for her daughters, and that everything else could wait.

As someone who, I believe, had one of the best fathers a daughter can ask for, i can tell you this. Obama offers something to his daughters that is priceless: security and consistency.

For a child, hearing his parents regularly tell him how much he means to them (the importance of the expressed feeling) and then seeing that message reinforced by seeing his parents come home every night, spend quality time, either at the dinner table or in the living room (the importance of actions)… There is nothing more constructive to shape a child’s future character.

I am Canadian, so whatever policies Obama sets probably won’t affect me directly. But watching Barack and Michelle parent, now that’s something that transcends borders and is truly and concretly inspiring.

Being a good parent is not brain surgery. But it requires love, time and dedication. And for all those fathers that think they are relagated to a secondary role behind the “primary” mother, think again. Watch Barack Obama, he’ll lead a whole new generation of good fathers.

Now that the hype of the election has died down, we are getting to see the “real” Obama. We can start realizing what kind of leader he will be. The one significant thing I take away from his victory speech (other than how powerful and understated it was), is when he said that we haven’t actually achieved anything yet, all that’s happened so far is that we’ve been given a CHANCE to start.

Obama strikes me as so very steady, “no drama Obama” as they call him, everything he does he planned and thought about, and he consulted smart level-headed people about the topic first. This, I feel is his “unique selling point” as we say in Marketing, and it’s in sharp contrast from everything we’ve seen until now. Everything, lately, has been about being “reactive”. McCain picked his VP reactively, after Hillary Clinton’s loss, thinking he could get the female vote. George W invaded Iraq reactively after believing false reports, and mainly as a reaction to having been attacked on 9/11. The bailout was a “reactive” measure due to the need of the public to see something done.

I think we need to remember that governing is not done as a reaction to possible opinion polls or to what the evermore invading media thinks about the current situation. Politics and government decisions must be done by experts, people with knowledge and experience, people who understand the world we live in today (it’s changed a lot in the past few years). Most events do not need an IMMEDIATE REACTION, there is time to discuss and consult amongst experts, to have a global perspective and to take informed decisions. And for me, Obama represents a person who can do all that. Where he lacks the actual field experience, he has the global perspective of an “outsider”, all the while surrounding himself with the experts in each field.

What I see Obama doing in these few days is dialing down the entertainment aspect of politics, removing the sensationalism. We joke, here in Canada, that our politics are boring compared to the USA’s. The truth is, politics is about steadfastness, and each branch of it should be left to the experts. Obama shows us this, BUT, at the same time, promises to keep transparency in his government. He’s started http://www.change.gov, where we can all stay informed of what is going on, and we can even express our opinion and apply for a job. So he’s being transparent AND he listens. But that’s it. He doesn’t promise that he will somehow react to the questions and requests, he promises to take everything under advisement and then takes an informed decision.

The past few months were about hope for change. Now we get real and watch what politics and government are really about, what they were designed to be when the words “a government of the people, for the people and by the people” were uttered.

At this point, i am still trying to remember to breath. CNN has just called Obama the next president of the United States. McCain is giving his concession speech. My phone is ringing off the hook. I have no words. I am so proud of the American people for making their voices heard. Peace. Love. To all of you.

I know Obama’s grandmother is looking down and smiling. Forget that! She’s having a ball!

Watching history in the making. This is surreal. All is right with the world. Expect greatness to come. Good night world!

You know how, when you’re coming to a really important moment in you life, all your nervousness, at the last moment, turns into this ultimate calm? A great moment is upon us on Tuesday. And after months of outcries and strong emotions, suddenly i feel calm. As if the fate of the world had already been decided, and now we just had to wait for the results.

This will be my last post before the elections, so it’s long and reflective, but I’d love to have you follow me in my thoughts:

I am calm because perspective has suddenly hit me. It’s simple really. Whomever is elected on Tuesday, nothing will change. Life will continue on November 5th as it did on November 4th. The economy, if we are in recession, will continue its downward spiral, until the day it comes up again. Cycles are a fact of economics. Healthcare will continue to remain unreachable and expensive, if anything ever changes, it won’t start overnight. Teachers will continue to be underpaid, we will continue to have a shortage of nurses, and we will not get out of Iraq or Afghanistan tomorrow. The world will continue tomorrow, seamlessly, the way it did until today.

Neither Obama or McCain are EVIL, but neither are superheroes either. They will both be very decent presidents, they will do their best in office, concentrating on the issues that matter to them, some will affect me, some will affect my neighbor, and some won’t concern us at all. Under Obama, you might pay less taxes, but under McCain, you might get help with healthcare instead. A president is a president. Yes he can be inspiring, yes he can have a grand vision, and sometimes, he might even do something so significant that he will go down in history for it.

But essential, your life, my life, our children’s lives won’t change on January 21st, the day after the new president takes office. A president doesn’t have that much power. He has a cabinet he must listen to, interest groups he must please, Congress who must approve his bills…

So what will change? The difference between McCain and Obama is whether the American Dream will be within our reach again or not. Why do i say that, if nothing will really be different? I watched this show on NBC this afternoon: Frankie Valli & the 4 Seasons: a tribute on Ice. It was corny and silly, and yet something happened to me. I suddenly started remembering what the US represented, ideologically, in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Images of wholesome families, moral values, hope for all, where anyone in America, if he worked hard enough, could become president. Remember those days? Where America stood for something greater than oneselves, where everyday, average Americans inspired the world through stories of success and social responsibility, where the model of America, a government of the people for the people, was alive and well and prospering?

The American Dream was even stronger outside America. We looked at America in envy, it was the land of opportunity, everyone got their fair chance, as long as they put in the effort. Americans showed heroism, they were famous around the world for their big ideas and their big achievements.

Listen, when Obama says McCain is more of the same, he’s right. But that also means that we’ll be fine, even if McCain is president, because, just like with George Bush, the country will continue to run, whomever is president. You can be as uncessful as George Bush and STILL manage to run a country. Why? Because a country’s government is a well oiled machine that won’t just BREAK because a president was not good at his job. Bush did not CREATE this financial crisis, he didn’t cause the attacks on 9/11, he didn’t hike gas prices. Those happened all on their own.

But what Bush DID do, was ruin the solid reputation of America. He took decisions on behalf of Americans and they were wrong. He didn’t listen to counsel, he made public blunders, he seemed dumb and the whole world ridiculed this man that was supposed to be the leader of the free world. But a 4 year term, and history would have eventually forgotten about him, like we do a bad dream. But 8 years! 8 years solidified America as a country that couldn’t even be trusted to elect a good president. The US, now, has lost its cachet. Gone are the dreams of fairness and equality for all, the image of wholesomeness has been blown to pieces.

So what will Obama do better than McCain? What Obama is offering is MORE than just more of the same. Does that mean you’ll get a check in the mail, or someone will return the keys to your house that was foreclosed the next day after he takes office? No. But he’s offering hope. He’s offering to restore the American Dream back to America. He’s young when Washington is filled with old men. He’s dynamic. He’s black when Washington is white. He’s lived in various countries and has exposure to the world. He’s tried drugs, he was an unsettled youth, he had to find himself. And what he found, along with himself, was the American Dream and a desire to succeed, for himself and for his community. He saw poverty and wanted to fix it. He saw unfairess, and wanted to make it better. He remains true to his values and his morals, always (he left the Senate at a crucial moment when he daùghter was sick, he left his presidential campaign for 2 days when his grandmother was sick). He thrives on challenges: i see that by the life partner he chose: Michelle is his equal in every way, this is different from McCain who wanted a perfect “mother and housewife” as a life partner.

Here’s the thing. You HAVE to vote on Tuesday. You owe it to your country. But at the end of the day, you will get the president you deserve. If you are still a land of inspired Americans with great ideals, you will rise to the occasion and elect then man who can restore you to greatness. But if you don’t think outside the box, if you vote out of fear, if you think “better the devil you know”, then you will also get what you deserve, you will get more of the same, a man that allows your humdrum life to continue, but without really changing anything.

This is it. I’m no longer bitter or angry or scared. I’m at peace knowing that you are standing on the edge of potential greatness. The American Dream is within your reach. Will America go down as a “has-been superpower”? Or will it continue to be the leading country of the free world? The choice is yours. It’s up to you America. Will you rise to the challenge?