A United Nation

In most movies, the President of the United States is often projected as a true leader - eloquent, courageous and, above all, inspirational. Memorable "presidents" and presidential speeches have included Michael Douglas in The American President, Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact, and, especially this inspirational (if slightly schmaltzy) speech from Bill Pullman in Independence Day. I remember the tears welling up in my eyes as I heard the authority in his voice and the hope he tried to instill in a people about to face certain annihilation. I have had friends who stood up in the cinemas and clapped at the end of this speech. In Malaysia, no less!

Few real American presidents in recent memory, unfortunately, have managed to inspire the same kind of hope, courage and confidence in real life. Not the saxophone-playing, intern-chasing Bill Clinton, not George Bush (Senior or Dubble-yeah) and not Richard Nixon. Few have been able to match the simplicity and simultaneous depth of Lincoln's Gettysburg address.

Everyone, however, will remember where they were the day Barack Obama became the nation's first African-American president. TV reports were filled with eyes of African Americans brimming with bittersweet tears who never thought they would see this day come. Not in my lifetime.

From the days of the end of the slavery, a full century later, America has finally matured enough to look beyond race and elect a President worthy of that title.

Hear his honesty, embrace his hope and humility, and feel that choking sensation well up in your throat as the chorus of "Yes, we can" rises up from a people - impoverished of hope and devoid of security - to the man who they believe will lead them out, from the darkness, and into the light.