Election Reflection

This election has monumental change written all over it, symbollically and politically.  Having an African-American man lead the country, has immense symbolic value on the nation and the world.  Within the United States, we have seen that President-elect Obama has won the hearts of many Americans.  He gained voter support through expression of his plans of action and his personality.  Just the fact that he came from a poor family shows that he understands what it means to struggle.  Because he has come from this less-fortunate family to become a successful Senator and soon-to-be President, he has shown great character.  People like a President with character.  Also, his race plays an enormous role.  The fact that he is the First "non-white" President shows that 1) the country has changed greatly and has focused on the candidate's plans, and 2) it is possible for anyone to make a difference in the country.  Globally, most of the leaders in other countries look forward to his presidency, feeling he will steer the country in the right direction, like in the video below, in which Shashi Tharoor, Indian author, former UN official, politician -  promotes Mr. Obama.   

A major factor of this election was the votes of young people, aka "youth vote".  Although not minors, they are the youngest voting-eligible group of citizens.  Young people - voters of ages 18-30, have changed the outcome of the election so immensely that if they did not vote, McCain would have won the election.  To think that of 23 million voters, 15.3 million of them voted for Obama, is astonishing.  That is a 2 to 1 ratio of Obama to McCain.  This age group made up 18% of the voting population in this election.  This Obama-favored group is largely because of his emphasis on the economy.  Most people of this age are attending college or some further educational pursuit (medical, grad school, law school) or are trying to pay off their student loans.  On the top of their minds when thinking about politics or the election, they think of the economy and how they will be affected.