Barrack Obama is not black.

There…I’ve said it. I hope I don’t get some burly Secret Service guys thundering through the door to give me the once over. Unlikely in New Zealand but these guys have long arms

But really he’s mixed race….like me! Why can’t that be celebrated. It’s a great chance to move beyond the “name that race” nonsense which has plagued society since Adam got frisky with Eve.

I liked this article by a fellow North Londoner, David Aaronovitch, who describes the changes in his own extended family as new blood and colour mixes in.

One day we will all be mixed race (to be honest we all are pretty much already) to some extent. Will that mean racism will disappear? A non-judgmental society? Sounds good to me but it may be a far away dream.

Politics has long been missing the simplicity of both hope and intention. Sure it’s easy to sell change but I was left with the impression that he realises that the job is just starting and that everyone must pull together.

John McCain too made a speech full of integrity and dignity. What a lesson they both provided for our politicians in New Zealand who noticeably changed their demeanours in tonights final debate.

Could this be the remaking of the US? That’s hard to say but the reaction around the globe will be ecstatic, knowing we can move on from 8 ridiculous years. Watching Obama take Florida so easily just reinforces the injustice of Gore’s loss.

The Lord, however, moves in mysterious ways. Gore may not have been that great a President. Obama may have never been elected. In a way Bush laid the path for Obama. So destitute of ideas and principles the country, nay the world, was holding out for a hero.

Tonight Obama looked like a man who knows he is in for the long haul.

Let’s hope he can take the US in a new direction and build bridges to the world instead of blowing them up.

And with that in mind here’s something to mellow out with on a very special evening.