And then came Obama . . .

"Things like this do not happen but for the Grace of God" my wife says this morning as we sat watching the celebrations accross the US, following Barack Obama's speech. I hesitate to refer to that speech as a victory speech.

It is not long ago that he was described as a 1 term senator with no experience. Apparently, so the competition asserted, all he had was a speech. He was not ready, he would not know what on earth to do when that 3am telephone call came.

During what was probably the most protracted election campaign the US has ever seen, this man has been as audacious as he was hopeful and as courageous as he was clear in his vision. He faced attacks on many fronts and an assortment of reasons were put forward in support of why he was not right for the job of the president of the United States of America. He in his own words described how he was said to be a little different from all those other presidents on the dollar bills.

This is not a backward-looking rant about the opponents that Obama has had to face in this nothing but legendary election campaign. The adversaries were worthy opponents in their own right - but this was not their time but his. Each of them with the history and the pedigree - he with audacity and a speech.

The post election analysis has gone to some length to caution Africa that she should not expect to be prioritised by the Obama presidency. He said in Berlin that it is time to bring down the walls of rich nations and poor nations; he also said that we should give some meaning to the phrase "never again" for the people of Darfur. These are not Africa's expectations but words of the 44th President of the United States.

Africa may well not benefit from Americas 44th president, at least in the way that the intelligent people on TV may have thought. Africa has already benefitted from the validation bestowed on her by this man and his mantra "yes we can". The young African-American men now can surely do other things - it does not have to be athleticism, performing arts or gang-banging.

All this through, because and from a man without pedigree or history.

Granted, no former president of the Harvard Law Review would ever need to be affirmed or to be given a hand up. Membership to that exclusive club is reserved only for the finest of us, with even finer minds. This much each one of us know is true from the last 21 months or so that we spent in the company of this fine human being.

The time for an idea of the US being governed by a black man had come and we all know how powerful such an idea tends to be. America had pretty much fallen from grace. We carried on watching CNN and drinking Coke pretty much from habit and addiction than choice. Invariably we drink water and watch Aljazeera. The 43rd president is generally accepted as an under-achiever and a war-monger with no sense diplomacy or intellectual appreciation of the gravity of his office. The US was rapidly becoming irrelevant and even more broke. It became less attractive to be associated with the US and Canadians became more insistent when distinguishing themselves from the Americans. As if the problems (mostly self-inflicted) were not enough - what with the 2 wars and shrinking economy - the sub-prime crisis, like an explosion, came onto the scene and shouted: "Surprise!" And my, was Mr Bush surprised.

Among all the despair and the trying times the US kept hurtling towards disaster with wild abandon. There was the 700 billion dollar bail-out, the collapse of the once great Lehmann Bros and the credit freeze.

And then of course came Obama and he made a speech, and as has come to be the case everytime he speaks, not only the US but the world, listened.