NOVEMBER 5, 2008

               A black president in the United States. Who’d have thunk it? Well, I’ll admit, I’m not surprised or amazed by the news. Maybe I’m just too open-minded and need to be skeptical like the rest of the world.

       There is something that surprised me, and it happened well before election night on Wednesday.

       Talking with Americans about the race for the presidency, there was a common thread in their skepticism about Barack Obama becoming the country’s 44th president. It wasn’t that he couldn’t run the country because he’s black, it was shocking the number of people that said he’d be the target of assassination attempts before he is even inaugurated in January.

       So let’s get this straight: the man isn’t even elected yet, and people are forecasting he could be killed in the next couple months. Does anybody else see anything bizarre about this? Are Americans now just electing people for the sake of target practice?

       All the while the world is reveling in history being made in the United States but if these locals are correct in their estimation, Obama could be making history in several ways if his demise plays out like a scene from a movie.

       Back when Canada had a female prime minister for that brief time, I don’t recall anybody making threats against Kim Campbell’s life. (Although, I’ll admit I was quite young and might not remember that. So please tell me if there was and I will correct my statement.) If anything, it was a liberating experience – much like the Obama situation in the United States – but we certainly didn’t view Campbell as a threat or detriment to the country.

       For the sake of getting the country on stable ground, I hope the United States embraces the change in power and supports its president through the rough years ahead.