Anyway I don’t think he’ll get the top job, because there are more experienced contenders such as Hillary and ex NY mayor Gugilaini. Remember the 2004 elections, Kerry was a sure winner but at the last moment Bush won again. If is a better guy than Bush, Hillary he’d be wortha shot at the job, but I don’t know for sure. Lets keep blogging untill 2008 and see hat happens.

Yeah there is and has been a conscious effort to highlight ‘universals’, but sometimes it just doesn’t seem enough- our present govt with its cabinet is an attestation to this. The politics of ethnic coalition only demarcate the identity borders further. Proportional representation has ensured that along with incompetence the only thing our politicians have in common is the lack of respect outside their ethnic group. So maybe we need people like Obama in power. Question is, what more can we do?

Have you read any about “power distance” as a cultural descriptor? Check out Geert Hofstede. I know hardly nothing about politics in SL besides the multiplicities of ministries; what would Sri Lankan voters think of a leader who eschews splendor and doesn’t pander to jewels and educations?

This, I think, is a separate point from leadership styles:
I agree that identity in the global age is amorphous and should be celebrated to break down the existing artificial boundaries of race, religion and ethnicity that attempt to define us. I also think that we should look for the common threads, those human flaws and emotions that allow us to identify with those around us.
though they do have the “I am like you” focus in common. I think this erosion of identity borders and celebration of what’s good in the universals is happening, sometimes consciously, right now — can’t WAIT to see what happens with the expansion of communication the One Laptop per Child project will spark off.

btw restrictions on buying property and citizenship are not exclusive to certain not western countries. various types of restrictions are there in usa, eu, australia, japan etc.as well. ( difference is they do not call them that.) recent blocking of a port deal in us bc company was from dubai ( a country in some respects more liberal than many other places, though not so in others) is a good example. now where did obama stand on that ?

or in any issue remotely controversial and not popular with the democratic party base ? he does know how to sit on a fence and look good while doing so, but how long can he do that in a campaign?

then there is that latent racist guilt complex of certain type of ‘caucasians’. “we are definitely not racist bc we watch oprah , think michael jordan cool, complain when shilpa shetty gets insulted in big brother , and consider voting for obama”. which btw though rather comical is ‘good’, and as joe klein said in time magazine last year ‘give people a shortcut to express their better instincts’. whether the shortcut will go so far as to actually vote is another thing .

just to clear up, i don’t think there is any serious racist feeling in vast majority of americans or other ‘whites’, any more than there is any racism here in vast majority of sri lankans. hype, propaganda, political correct statements, fudge, and speculations based on hype, do not matter. what does in the end are the facts. actual votes, actual discriminations, actual pogroms and riots if any, actual stereotyping statements like ‘all whites/blacks/arabs/sinhalese/tamils are stupid/violent/terrorist supporters/racists ready for a pogrom”, etc.

on that basis all we can say at the moment about obama and his significance is that he appears to be a good smart politician who knows the tricks of the trade. he won the senate seat partly bc original republican candidate (who actually withdrew very late in the race) and democratic primary opponent were both hit by scandals ( deservedly ). whether he is a symbol of anything, is better be judged after the event if there is one. now it’s just hype and fandom.

Like Sri Lankan’s saying ‘we are Sinhala Buddhists,…”

Good post though.

We as Sri Lankans can learn much from this. I agree that identity in the global age is amorphous and should be celebrated to break down the existing artificial boundaries of race, religion and ethnicity that attempt to define us. I also think that we should look for the common threads, those human flaws and emotions that allow us to identify with those around us.