Shanti Thokchom's Life Experiences
- Part 31 -
American Presidential Politics

By Shanti Thokchom *

Sorry for the delay in writing the next story as I had been very busy.Many of you have been emailing me and asking" Iche, Wari Makhadi ?".."how about the next story?"

It was real encouraging because you all have treated me as if you all knew me since you were children! I was very overwhelmed by those responses!! If I am able to connect with you all in anyway and make you smile with my stories, then I will consider having been useful to the community!!

If anyone finds my stories offensive or unreadable, no one is forced to read so!! Its just that I wanted to share with you all.

I am seeing life in a very different perspective than when I was younger. Now I am in my forties and appreciate life so much and am thankful for everything that I have and able to do. So I find lot of contentment and mental happiness from being true to myself and beliefs instead of chasing dreams which are beyond my reach and limits!!

There is so much joy and satisfaction in my life to see my son growing up every day, every moment. I would not like to trade it with anything even if given a million $$$$ cos his childhood will never come back again so I am making the most of it !!!

All the negative events in my life gets drained out of my system and fill up with fresh energy and vigor every day! Thats why I love to meet and make new friends and enjoy life as it is very short!! As long as I dont "Chara Henba " -starvation ", I will continue to be a self-made ambassador here for our beloved home state of Manipur and the North East India!!

I do feel I have an obligation to spread awareness about it to others!! As they do not see the real NE region whose people are very sweet natured but due to the ignorance and political bickerings among its people, news do get out to the world and thats what people have the wrong perception of us all!! This is continuation of my life experiences........

My heart was very heavy as we said goodbye to this wonderful couple..and left Miami Beach around 9.30am !! This time I had to drive through a different route as my plans were to visit the NASA center and one of the Disney World theme parks at Orlando on our return trip home -all -in-one for Vasooli !! We had a great time with this young couple and going back home with good memories of our precious times at their place!!

Rocket garden, NASA at the Kenendy Space Center (NASA) in Florida .

I must share with you all about the political atmosphere there during my visit !! A lot of meetings/rallies were held or were going on around many places there in Florida as both Republican and Democratic parties were clamouring for the retirees ' vote and by gosh!!

The seniors in this sunshine state for once had become so important in this 2008 presidential election!! It was refreshing to see people all so excited and perked up about it!! Its truly an amazing election as we have not seen such level of enthusiasm of politics among the people !!

Much credit goes to the president-elect's (now president) untiring and effortless campaign and his vast reach of internet users to get the vote out from grass roots level and to register millions of 1st time voters and the young people ( of course, they all voted for him !!)

It was a very effective tool for him to be on Facebook and campaign from there to young people!! They felt very important and all the campuses everywhere around this country were all Obam-mites...because he knew them better thanthe resat of the candidates..from both parties!!

I think they can take a leaf or two out of his book to learn about his successful campaign !! Even if his party came under so much scrutiny for the dubious ways of getting the voters registered through the ACORN and what not !!

He truly tapped on to this segment of voters at the right time with his message of "hope and change". And for the people who were very unhappy with the incumbent president over the Iraq war and the economy, it was a winning Mantra, no doubt !!

Anything to win the election.....!!! Chicago politics was very much in play here!!! That I have noticed ......from the top guy who ran his successful campaign to all his other staff had connections with the city !! Not that everything was all fairy tale like story !!

People in their quest to get rid of the president just got mesmerized by the "Change" Mantra and hoping for a dramatic one at that!! For now,its a real honeymoon for our incoming president as he has got the people's heavy mandate !!

The liberal media in large part was also responsible too, for his election....They went ga ga all over him and you could see the great media coverage every single day everywhere !! It seemed like he was some sort of a demi god or something!!

And that he could do no wrong!! All the shady connections with tainted political figures were kinda brushed under the carpet by the liberal media !! The opposite party was also so much under ruthless attacks by the very same media on the female VP pick for their party's candidate !!!

I can't believe the media here is so sexist and biased towards the female candidates!!! I wonder when would this land have a female head of the country ever if this kind of sexism still continues!!

At least in Asia and other parts of the world, there are female head of states and have been there e.g...the first female Indian PM Indira Gandhi, British PM Margaret Thatcher, Israeli PM Golda Meir, Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto, the German Chancellor etc. and so on...!!

The real test would be when the president starts working and get results!!!! Will he be able to deliver all that he promised during his campaign?? Its a big NO but we can give him the grace period for that!!

Many of his campaign big donors would all want a piece of the pie and will he be able to run his administration with authority, I doubt it!! But he is a smart man and so far his cabinet choice is nothing but impressive and its reassuring for people !!

Its an incredible story of how an inexperienced senator rose to such political heights in an amazing way!! Of course, we dont doubt his excellent oratorial skills !! Lets hope and pray for him for his good rule!!! His election has no doubt energized others too as everything seems possible now for all people of color!!

Of course, there is always a smart and intelligent woman behind every man's success!! In this case, we have Michelle Obama whose strong personality had to be toned down and given a softer image and low profile for the public by her husband's campaign headquarters as a mom of 2 school going kids and also as a juggler between a mother and wife and a career woman!!

Interesting story indeed!!! I just love the way the biased media goes bonkers over her dress and all thats she does!!



More stories later ...... to be continued ...!!

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* Shanti Thokchom, a resident of Tulsa, Oklohoma, contributes regularly to e-pao.net . She can be reached at sthok65(at)hotmail(dot)com . This article was webcasted on May 30, 2009.

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