Voices of Mexico no. 83

Our Voice

Agreat change is taking place on the U.S. political scene, and another fundamental one is approach- ing in what has been by far the longest and most fascinating electoral process in that country's mod- ern political history. Only a few days before the elections, polls show that it is practically certain that Barack Obama will occupy the White House next January 20. All the polls, from the general ones to those taken by specific socio-economic, race-based, religious and generational groups, put Senator Obama leading John McCain by an average of 10 points.

It is just a matter of time before the hypotheses of Obama's victory are confirmed. If Obama wins, we will be witnessing the most dramatic, transcendental moment of modern U.S. political history: the most symbolic place of power in the United States —Lyndon B. Johnson referred to it as the house that is not only white outside, but inside— will be occupied by a black politician, constituting a radical turn in the history of the U.S. presidency. Obama will have inspired the majority of his country's electorate with Martin Luther King's maxim that he likes repeating so much: "the fierce urgency of now," that is meeting up with history today, just around the corner.