Agreed, babai. The President is just one man...very difficult for him to make any difference, specially in a lobby 'democracy' like the US. It is improbable that there will be much of a difference in the way the US is going to do things- specially for us here in India. But I am still impressed with Obama as an individual. He breaks the mould of the career politician. He is erudite, he is middle-class, he is an orator, he is black, and above all, he seems sincerely to want to change things. He may not achieve it- but he seems to want to try.

The entire campaign was a good testimony to the man's character- first the attacks from Hilary, and then McCain- you got to agree that he is pretty unflappable. If you have not heard the 'Towards a more perfect union' speech, you should (on Youtube). It was a bracve speech, given the circumstances.

And as for the anti-incumbency being the primary reason for his selection- I am not sure I agree. For instance, he had fought and won a pitched battle with Hilary. A desire to kick out the republicans would have been met by electing Hilary too...so why choose Obama? Probably because people are tired of the Clintons too- which is the point: people wanted something different. But the true factor probably is that Obama is very compelling- like I said, he reminds me of Lincoln in many ways.