Becomes first black U.S. president

Barack Obama made history Tuesday night after being the first black man elected as President of the United States. 

Celebrations kicked off around the globe as news spread of the 47-year-old Illinois senator’s victory.

Greg Anderson, political science professor at the University of Alberta, said Obama is the right choice for Americans who are seeking a candidate who will bring a change of tone to the White House. “I think he will, I think he’ll bring a new wind, a breath of fresh air,” Anderson said. 

“After eight years of rather tough talk, and some would say cowboy politics, you’re going to see a much more sophisticated and nuanced kind of politics emanating out of Washington.”

Clearly, that new style of politician is what people not only in the United States, but around the world, were looking for.

But the win doesn’t put Obama on easy street, Anderson said. ‘That doesn’t mean to say he’s going to hit the ground running and do everything perfectly. He does have a thin resume, and he may not get the kind of cooperation that people assume he will from his democratic comrades on capital hill,” he said. “He’s going to have a tough road, nobody’s going to rubber stamp everything he does.”

What Obama will be confronting when he is sworn in on Jan. 21 is “huge,” according to Anderson. “I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want the job,” he said. “There’s no shortage of challenges.”

If Canadians could have voted, it’s hard to predict what the outcome would have been, but the considerations would have been different. “I think it really depends on what the basis of the vote is,” Anderson said. “If you’re thinking pocketbook issues then I think that the obvious choice is John McCain because he voices at least nominal support for things like nafta and trade liberalization, or at least a willingness to stand in the way of protectionism.”

Though Obama backed away from comments he made in the primaries about renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Anderson suspects his party will stand in his way. “I think there’s enough people in his party and Congress that will probably stand in the way or insist upon taking a much more protectionist and nationalist approach,” he said. 

“Those kinds of things won’t always sideswipe Canada, but on a number of issues if there are disputes, or attempts to advance any sort of bilateral agenda, I think it will just be that much more difficult.”

McCain was a “compelling figure,” Anderson said, though there were some strikes against him. “I’m not sure his choice of vice presidential candidate was inspired,” he said.

Anderson said there are a number of American citizens in Alberta, including himself, though by the end of last week he hadn’t decided how he would vote. “There are trade-offs with both of them,” he said.