His story: Barack Obama and ‘the moment’

They came, they watched, they cheered — and cried. For millions of Bush-weary Americans, Jan. 20, 2009 was the moment: Barack Obama, 47, was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States and the first African-American president.

It was on this wintry day when teary-eyed Obama supporters felt a renewed sense of hope amid tough times. Obama himself was hope personified — probably regarded by many as the ‘human Messiah,’ who can save the US and the world in four years.

As expected, Obama quickly rose to the occasion and, in his 18-minute inaugural speech, he reassured the American people with words of hope…unity…and change. The project in hand: Remaking America.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

The inauguration of Obama as US President was clearly a historical one — and the whole world knew it. Millions of people around the globe took some time off to watch last Tuesday’s inaugural ceremonies, glued to their television sets or computer screens for hours.

CNN.com cites a report made by Akamai Technologies, Inc., the company that handles the Internet traffic for more than 150 news sites worldwide, that around 7.7 million people logged on and watched the inauguration on the Net all at the same time last Tuesday. And according to a CNN spokesperson, nearly 27 million people watched the streaming video on the CNN.com Live website throughout the day.

The leading news network also partnered with Facebook, a top social networking site, to give curious news consumers an online platform to post their commentaries while the inauguration was taking place. Facebook would later reveal that there was an unprecedented traffic during the event — as expected — with the site averaging 4,000 status updates per hour Tuesday morning. The updates per minute reportedly reached 8,500 during Obama’s inaugural speech.

Indeed, the collective feeling now is, it’s cool to be an American — and yes, black — in this Obama era. National pride, it seems, has been restored almost instantly.

“I’m so proud to be an American today!” has become the ubiquitous statement of countless Americans backing Obama. Such remarks would have been hard to say during the George W. Bush days, when anti-American sentiments in other nations multiplied by the day in the aftermath of the former administration’s aggressive “war against terror.” (Note: Bush supporters had stressed out that it was extra challenging to be the US President when you have unexpected incidents like the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina on your clock.)

It appears that the US (well, at least the majority of the population) and the rest of the world love Obama, charismatic as he is, as much as they hate Bush. (Incidentally, Bush got his share of heckling from the spectators, who packed the National Mall during the presidential inauguration. A veteran political commentator later remarked that the booing was “really in bad taste in such an event.”)

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in last Tuesday’s CNN interview that Obama, whom he earlier described as a “transformational figure,” got elected not because he is black, but “because he can do it.” Meanwhile, multi-awarded film director Steven Spielberg told CNN’s White House correspondent Ed Henry that Obama was an “amazing force.”

Clearly, Obama’s avid supporters see him as the right man to lead the most powerful nation on earth in this time of socio-economic troubles. But critics and political analysts alike say that this remains to be seen, citing his obvioius lack of political experience and the country’s unprecedented financial crisis, respectively. And they do have a point.

However, amid all these endless media discussions deconstructing the new US president, whose historic election has inspired millions, the Obama mania goes on. ‘Obama love’ is everywhere — in newspapers, TV programs, and, yes, even in the fishing village of Obama, Japan.

But, as they say, the honeymoon is not yet over. Just like in marital affairs, we just have to wait and see how things will pan out.

One thing is sure, though: Obama’s presidency has proven once again that anything is possible in America, where democracy still reigns supreme. (Photo taken from CNN.com)

TIDBITS: If you have a Facebook account and would like to post your Obama-related comments, click here.

For posterity’s sake

I admit: I’m a sentimental fool. And I’m a sucker for collecting memories — with my trusty camera.

I’ve been snapping photos of my family and friends for as long as I can remember. When I was around eight years old, I would use my sister’s analog camera and take pictures of my brothers and sister goofing around in our parents’ clothes and shoes during our summer vacation. I would also take photos of our maids, with the neighbor’s garden as background.

When my Mom’s friend and her Italian husband came to visit us, I fancied their Polaroid camera and asked to be assigned as the “official events photographer” of the grill party in our family garden. Taking those instant Polaroid photos brought joy to my 10-year-old heart.

Through the years, I would document each family, school, or office gathering, however insignificant they appeared to be to others, using my camera (I had my first automatic camera when I was 14). I would then order multiple copies of my photos at a camera store and give them as gifts to my family, friends, and officemates later on. It was an expensive ‘vocation,’ but it was nice to see the happy faces of the people who received my photo gifts with lines like “Oh, how nice! I look beautiful here!” or “That was a nice party. Good that you took pictures there.”

Of course, the downside is, the photographer (that would be me) is not often in the picture — well, unless a tripod is used (but this can be very tiring to prepare everything prior to the photo shoot) or another person from your group takes the photo (which means not everybody will be in the photo). Oh well — such is life; you can’t have everything. But sometimes, kind strangers (e.g. solicitous waiters and waitresses) do say “yes” to your requests to have your group photo taken.

Having said all these, I do have moments when I tell myself that I’m completely photoed out, after, say, a frenetic photo coverage of a family vacation, a neighbor’s restaurant opening, a language teacher’s farewell party, or a reunion with old chums. I do feel that I miss out on enjoying the moment just because I’m an obsessive compulsive ‘documenter of historic life events.’ Sometimes, it’s best to just keep that camera in the bag and relish the happenings as they take place in the now.

But generally speaking, I’m still a firm believer that recording precious events is important. Thus, I intend to carry on with this self-assigned task, as long as humanly possible. Photos do serve a purpose. They are visual reminders of both the major and mundane things in our life.

Sure, it can be quite stressful to be around a hyper events photographer like me, but I think that as long as the people you cherish are still alive and well, and there are still important gatherings taking place, then toting a camera is a must-do.

Photos, in my book, go a long way. They keep historic events alive. With just one flip (or click) of a photo album, a deluge of fond memories instantly lift our spirits, especially when we’re feeling somewhat blue.

So when you spot compulsive photographers snapping away like mad during special occasions, cut them some slack. They’re just doing their jobs in preserving your favorite life moments through their craft. For sure, you’ll thank them later on.

TIDBITS: According to Swiss Reviews, today (December 12, 2008) marks the day in history when Switzerland joins the passport-free zone of the Schengen countries. Switzerland will be the 25th member of the Schengen area, which counts three other non-EU countries, namely, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, among its members. All land border checkpoints will be closed beginning today. People entering Switzerland by air from another Schengen country will still have their passports checked until March 29, 2009. This is good news not only to tourists who can now visit Switzerland using their Schengen visas, but also to non-EU residents of Switzerland (e.g. Philippine passport holders who have Swiss residence permits), who no longer need to apply for a Schengen visa to be able to travel to Schengen countries. (More information can be found here and here.)