Dawn of a new era in America

After gruelling 54 primaries since early January - and 16 months of campaigning and electioneering in the hotly contested and most untraditional election for the presidential nomination in US history - it is all over.

The sudden death of Hillary Clinton's arduous campaign ended the hope of the former first lady to be the first American woman to have a shot at the nomination of one of the two major political parties in the US.

Barrak Obama appeared on the national stage during the 2004 Democratic national convention as an obscure, young and first time senator from Illinois.

The senator with a strange name and born to a Kenyan Muslim father and a White American mother clinched the Democratic party nomination after amassing more delegates than his opponent, Clinton.

As far as Clinton is concerned, she has reached a stage where no American woman has ever gone before and made it more possible for women to make the race to the White House more attainable.

There is no doubt Clinton's performance has made a major dent in the glass ceiling. Columnist Gail Collins puts it best, when she stated, "By the end of those 54 primaries and caucuses, Hillary had made a woman running for president seem normal.

It's not the same as winning the White House. But it's a lot." But not all American women see it that way. Wall Street Journal columnist, Peggy Noonan, swam against the cheerful current when she claimed that "America dodged a bullet, Clinton would have been a disaster as president".

Clinton was not gracious in defeat and missed an opportunity to heal the rift in the Democratic Party. She appeared to be in a state of denial and that hurt her image.

Nevertheless, it seems Clinton is angling herself to be Obama's running mate for the position of vice-president. Obama may include her so that he can win over Clinton's voters to his side, especially women, elderly, white working class and the Hispanic.

She could even convince her fund raisers and supporters to contribute to Obama's campaign to stave off his Republican opponent John McCain.

It is important to remember that money is the main instrument for progression and survival in the gruelling next five months of the presidential elections which will drag on until next November. Obama and Clinton collectively have raised five times as much money as John McCain during the primaries.

Quantum leap

We knew that America has changed forever when Obama clinched the Democratic party's nomination and made history by becoming the first African-American to win the nomination of one of the two major political parties in the land of opportunity.

Obama's convincing victory ushered in a new era, when he declared, "America, this is our moment, this is our time".

We knew that something has changed for ever and that the US made a quantum leap to reconcile with itself and its long history of injustice and discrimination and made it possible for an obscure black man - the son of a Kenyan immigrant - to be one step away from leading the strongest nation on Earth.

A possibility most Americans and most people around the world thought that its time has not come, but the American people, who surprised themselves, surprised the rest of the world too.

The big challenge is: Will the Americans carry on and make the ultimate surprise by electing Obama to the White House?

What made that historic achievement more poignant was that his opponent was Clinton, the first woman ever to travel that far and to have the tenacity and the dogged determination to dream not only to be the first woman in US history to be the president, but to make history also by being the first former first lady to return to the White House as a president.

It is obvious that the US is making and living history alike.

The road will be long and winding for Obama to beat the veteran and more experienced McCain. Obama has to follow a double-headed strategy to defeat the Republican senator. In all probability, McCain will play Clinton's lines over and over and play his trump card of experience and his security credentials against a more youthful and less experienced Obama.

The first strategy Obama has to employ is to find a new approach to attack McCain. Repeating the same old mantra that a victory for McCain would be akin to a third term for Bush and his failed economic and foreign policy, would not get him too far.

The second strategy is what Charlie Cook, as the Economist describes him a more neutral analyst who argues that the "challenge for Obama is to refute the rumours swirling around the internet - that he is a Muslim, that he sympathises with terrorists - and make suspicious voters feel comfortable with him. If he can do that, he will win. If not, he won't".

But at any rate the dawn of a new era has begun in the US and for that, America and the rest of the world should be grateful and hopefully will be better off.

Dr Abdullah Al Shayji is a Professor of International Relations and the Head of the American Studies Unit- Kuwait University.