Wednesday, November 5, 2008

An election which changed the world - A Faroese viewpoint.

I've always had a personal interest in politics, whether it's domestic or foreign. So it was only obvious, that I would follow the election in the US closely. The media here in the Faroe Islands had followed the election campaign fairly close, and especially the Faroese National Radio, which even had sent a reporter over there, to report back home on a daily basis, with small reports.

There was some ruckus here, in the wake of our Minister of Foreign Affairs, officially naming his pick for president. He later stated, that he didn't say this as the Minister, but as a single person, meaning, he didn't say this on behalf of the government.

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Høgni Hoydal, had a few days prior to this aforementioned correction, said that it was unsuitable, for a Minister of Foreign Affairs, to publicly announce who his pick was, and then he mentioned some other issues, for example the invasion in Iraq, which the Faroe Islands protested against, because it wasn't with the backing of the UN.

I've always had this picture in the back of my head, as USA being a supreme power, and not in a negative way, but in a positive way. But i've lost this vision, i've lost that feeling, and with the election of Barack Obama, last night, I got it back.

The thing is, when you are powerful, when you are strong, you must not mis-use the power, which you have been vested, but use it... for a greater good.

I do believe, that Barack Obama, will use this power, to work for the union. I've heard the term "spread the wealth", being used alot in this campaign, and I must firmly state, that this is not a negative terminology. It's supposed to work for the greater good of a union, in which everyone will prosper.

Last night, I was misspoken, when I said the saying "When America sneezes, Europe gets a cold" - It's supposed to be "World...", instead of Europe. But this is one of the main reasons, i'm interested in who's the President of USA. Many of his decisions, will affect in the rest of the world, and I want that leader to be wise and with good intentions.

Faroese political leaders, have voiced their opinion on the election of Barack Obama. Most of them, except the Peoples Party and Centre Party, seem to be very positive, while the other two parties, tend to have a more... cautious approach, in which the leader of the Centre Party, said that he was very disappointed with Obama supporting homosexuals.

As far as I know, the Faroese Prime Minister, Kaj Leo Johannesen, hasn't sent any greetings yet, but I might be mistaken, but nothing is official.

I just want to give my 5 cents then, and officially congratulate Barack Obama.
Brain Bliss