It was a very interesting campaign and election to watch. First seeing who would receive the democratic nomination (the first female or African-American presidential nominee) and then the actual historical presidential campaigns and election. Many things were said, dug up, promised, revealed, and shown. All in all, a spectacular ride.

What struck me the most were the speeches made, especially those from Barack Obama. Before last year’s presidential elections, I always thought it was unfortunate how disproportionately the speeches and debates helped guide who the voters would vote for, whether it’s to elect a country’s leader or a high school’s student council. I use to think, “Public speaking isn’t really a good indicator of someone’s leadership skills. What does public speaking have to do with leadership?” But after watching some of Obama’s inspiring speeches, I realized just how important a leader’s speaking skills are, especially for those who are heads of state.

What does a leader do? Lead people, right? What if nobody follows the leader? Is he/she really a leader then? That’s why I now believe it’s essential for great leaders to have outstanding public speaking skills. One of their responsibilities is to inspire those they are leading. It isn’t only the leaders of a country or organization that make an impact, it’s everyone that’s a part of that group. If the leader cannot inspire or motivate their group to greater and better things, then he/she isn’t really much a leader.

So that brings me back to Barack Obama. He was able to inspire and motivate not only Americans, but people from all of the world (myself included) like no presidential candidate has done in a very long time. His campaign was based on change and millions of people bought into it, believed change is needed & is coming, and that Obama is the man to lead it.

Now on the eve of his inauguration, people all of the world are waiting to see if this inspirational family man from Chicago will make good on all his words and lead this awe-inspiring change. Expectations are high and hope is in the air. I for one cannot wait to see what’s in store for America and consequently the rest of the world in the next 4-8 years. Exciting times!

“Change we can belive in”

No, I’m not talking about Christmas. I’m talking about change. Change in the government.

For the first time in a while (or possibly ever), Canadian politics is more interesting than American politics. A coalition government may form in the the next couple of months and the current prime minister could become the next opposition leader. All of this in the midst of a global economic crisis.

Now, what do I think about this? Do I want a coalition government? I’m not sure yet. One thing I know for sure, is we need change and a coalition government would definitely be a change. Is it the right change though? I don’t know. I’m still divided on the issue. One thing I do know for sure is that we need action, immediate action. So what in the world is Steven Harper doing proroguing parliament for 7 weeks? At a time when we need to act, the government is shutting down. I must say I am deeply disappointed that governor-general Michaëlle Jean’s decision to grant Harper’s request. Some government officials have stated that they disagree with her decision to grant the prorogue but respect her decision. I’m a little confused with those statements. How can you disagree with a decision but still respect it? Aren’t those two things the opposite of each other? Yes, disagree with the decision and still respect Michaëlle Jean, but how can you respect the decision if you disagree with it? But I digress. One reason I’ve heard (this is purely speculation, so I don’t know for sure) on why she granted Harper’s request is that he would resign if she didn’t grant his request. I really hope this isn’t true, because that is a very selfish attitude, one that you shouldn’t have when you have the most servant-leadership job in the country as prime minister. The prime minister’s job first and foremost is serving the country, not his/her own self interests.

So what we’re left with now is a country without a government and a country deeply divided. Polls are showing that Canadians are split on the issue and the recent election shows that our support is divided among 4 parties, with no real strong backing of one party. This is exactly what we can’t have right now. To be able to confront this economic challenge, we need a united front in our government. I was glad to see that 3 of the parties were able to drop partisan politics to unite together to combat this challenge, but I think this is only a good first step. It would have been much better if all 4 parties could come together to solve this problem together. For it does not only affect the politicians, or even Canadians, but this affects the entire world. Unity and action is desperately needed in this country. I can only hope in the coming 7 weeks, before parliament resumes, time and resources will be spent more on facing the issues Canada is facing rather than campaigning for or against the coalition.

United we stand, divided we fall.

P.S. for those of you who don’t know why I picked “delta” for this post’s title, “delta” is the Greek letter than represents change.