ARUBA & GUYANA
Arubagirl dubbed the occasion a “happy day”, the significance of which was not lost on diaspora blogger Signifying Guyana:

Now it's real. America has elected its first Black president. And I hope many more like John Lewis, who were resilient in the face of a brutality that sought to deny them their basic human rights, are still around to cry and bear witness to this moment that is so full of America's cruel past, and its potentially healing present.

Her compatriots back home, however, were not as prepared to accept America's presidential choice as a positive step. Guyana 911 said:

I'm starting to get a little bad feeling about Obama. I am pretty confident that if McCain had a competent running mate it would of been a different tune tonight…to each his own I guess. What I'm trying to say is if Obama was a white man…people wouldn't have voted as shallowly in some cases. A fault with a democracy I suppose. It's a step in some sort of direction, however. Maybe the next time a black and a white man come up head to head it's just going to be on the issues.

Living Guyana didn't see what the big deal was and focused his attention on whether Obama, “as a sitting US president, will visit Guyana”:

He will have four years to do it. Will he? Or will he just ignore us as all other US presidents (save for Jimmy Carter) have?

JAMAICA
Jamaican diaspora blogger Geoffrey Philp, however, was of the firm opinion that “the election of Barack Hussein Obama to the highest office in the country has…changed the course of history”:

On many levels, Mr. Obama's election has meant a change in the way we think about each other. Many white Americans have had to put aside their fears of race retribution and their doubts that an African American had the intellectual acumen for the presidency. Within the African American community, there is a sense of triumph and euphoria–one of their own has risen from the nightmare of slavery, racism, and segregation to realize the theme encoded in the so-called “Negro Spirituals”—the dream of freedom.

And yet as revolutionary as Mr. Obama's election appears, there is also something profoundly traditional in the choice that is steeped in American values…Mr. Obama's presidency is symbolic of the change we desire. But as my Sunday school teacher used to say, ‘Faith without works is dead.' And as Mr. Obama early in the campaign reminded us, ‘This election is not about me, it's about you.' How much were we willing to give up, sacrifice, to become better versions of ourselves?

Well, we've taken the first step. But this change won't be easy.

Idle Yout Speeks agreed that Obama was “the best man for the job”, while Moppet waxed poetic about the fact that she could witness this day “in (her) sons' lifetime”:

Nobody's stereotype; America's ambition.

Obama is calmer than calm itself.

Realization of MLK's impossible dream.

Obama is vital, absolutely alive.
God bless him. God guide him. God grant him an' Biden wisdom.
God love him. It's impossible not to love him.

Abeng News Magazine's Kwame McPherson also thought Obama was poetry in motion, while YardFlex.com was quick to congratulate Obama and Biden on their win:

President Obama is definitely fresh, with a global background and global view that will serve to bolster his commitment to bring about change in Washington.

Jamaicans in the US have primarily backed the Obama / Joe Biden campaign and have been quite organized and outspoken, making sure to spread the word and positively impact the outcome.

Jamaicans are extremely proud of President Barack Obama and are thrilled by the success of their efforts in supporting what is the most exiting phenomenon that has appeared on the political scene in decades.

The magnitude of the moment was not lost on Long Bench, who was actually at Chicago's Grant Park:

What a moment. What a speech. What a speech. What depth of character. What a quality person. What a long time for the 106 year old woman from Atlanta to wait for someone of this caliber to step into the role of leader of this United States of America. How could anyone not want this man to be the person who represents them and acts on their behalf on the world stage? He even recognized his non-supporters and did not demonize them - what a display of grace and humility!

I was so moved by the whole thing, I could seriously even imagine myself living here in this city. America seems almost tolerable again. And you know what else? As I listened to him speak, I knew that he would never see it as politically expedient to declare that I, and persons who share my sexual orientation, could not have a place in his Cabinet. That would simply be unthinkable. He is a model of leadership that we could all learn something from.

You really had to be here. It was worth every last minute and cent to have witnessed and participated in this moment

Life, Unscripted, on the Rock wished “Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcom X could be alive to witness this historic day” and Jamaican-born author Pamela Mordecai “wanted to share some things (she) found in (her) little campaign to help Catholics and Evangelicals…see that it's perfectly alright to vote for Obama”:

Here's a quote from a Catholic man planning to vote for Barack Obama: ‘Before abortion was an issue for people, the plight of the african-american was an issue. That issue has never totally been resolved, largely because radical reconstruction in the post civil war era was highjacked by scared white people who didn't like the fact that African-americans were threatening to take the majority away from the whites in southern states… The civil right's movement brought us a little bit closer to equal rights, but not quite all the way. As this issue has been one for longer than the woe v. wade issue has been in existence, I'm voting to settle the problem which has been in longer need of correction.' (I've quoted him verbatim…)

Meanwhile, Francis Wade, a Jamaican who lived in the U.S. for many years before recently deciding to return to Kingston, admitted that he suddenly had “a strong feeling of missing being in America”:

As the results came in for Obama's victory — a landslide in electoral terms — the hope that I can dimly remember associating with the world's foremost democracy started to seep back in, after what seems like an eternity of dark gloom.

The Bush years made me glad to be living back home in Jamaica, away from the ugliness, wars and fear that started for me in 2000 with the Bush election “victory.”

Now, it seems, America is back… simply by demonstrating that so much is possible for a Black man, and by extension, for every person in the world who has ever been told that that “they can't.”

Whether or not Obama turns out to be a great president or not, at this point in time humanity has won an important victory of possibility over cynicism, resignation and despair.

BERMUDA
Further north, Bermudian bloggers were also weighing in. Breezeblog said he has “never been more optimistic about an American presidency” in his lifetime:

President-Elect Barack Obama … it still sounds scarcely believable. It was a privilege to watch this historic moment for America, minorities, and the world when an African-American who was unknown four years ago has achieved a truly astonishing political feat. The audacity of hope indeed.

Vexed Bermoothes thought that Obama “won the US election with a thundering mandate” and called November 4, 2008 “a remarkable day”:

Like Bermuda, America wants new faces and a determination to face the issues rather than wallow in past battles and fears. Put simply, the electorate is tired of the same old shit…the reasonable expectation that the victory is not a mandate for payback but a license to govern with transparency, accountability, and equity.

FreshieBlog declared that he “would be proud to be an American”, but Catch a fire lost his bet that McCain would win:

That's okay. As I’ve said before, I regard Mr. Obama as a lesser evil than Mr. McCain. Watching Mr. McCain’s concession speech though, one did have to wonder why he didn’t speak like that more during the campaign. With the close margin of victory by popular vote, more of that ‘real’ McCain may well have been enough to trump the negative Palin factor and win the election for him.

BARBADOS
Barbadian bloggers, some of the most politically outspoken in the region, were also celebrating the victory. Barbados Free Press was reveling in the accuracy of its election predictions:

In the middle of the Obama - Hillary runoff for the Democratic nomination, we declared that Obama would be the next President of the United States. We felt that victory months ago, but we also said that all this excitement over a black President would soon give way to the fact that Barack Obama’s policies with offshore banking and taxation are distinctly hostile to the interests of Barbados. Black majority nations are going to be very surprised if they think that President Obama will place their interests over the interests of his country.

Still, the image of the United States has been changed overnight and that change may help on many worldwide fronts where the USA has assumed responsibilities or powers in situations it has no right sticking its nose into.

Young diaspora blogger Jdid understood that he was witnessing a piece of history:

Stop for a minute. Just stop. Consider where you are right now in your life and where you were when you heard the news that Barack Obama had won the US presidential election. Bask in the elation and the euphoria, take in the sights and the sounds. Remember them!

Without overly indulging in hyperbole this is truly a momentous occasion. In my lifetime so far I've seen such events as the end of apartheid and the end of the cold war. Those were moments back then that I hoped might come but still never really dreamed would occur. Similarly but oh so much more of a dream, pipe dream even, was the concept of a black president in the US.

We have a new hero. Especially for us who are here in North America as minorities. We no longer only need look to foreign leaders or dead African kings and Pharaohs or Marcus, Martin and Malcolm to point out to our children what black people have and can achieved. We have a real live person closer to home who isn't a rapper, who isn't an athlete, who isn't an entertainer who we can say has achieved the impossible, defied the odds, made it to the very top and looks like you and I.

Cheese-on-bread! added:

Barack Obama's 349 electoral votes to John McCain's 162 signal more than a Democratic win over the Republicans; they symbolise a chance for the world to experience a paradigm shift, to look beyond race and the colour of a man's skin to value his mettle and soul. All I can say is that I feel proud that my son can grow up in a world where he can look at Obama's example and dare to dream.

…while Caribbean Lionesse apologized to America:

America… my bad. We were wrong about you. We completely underestimated you.
And this morning, I am happy to admit I was wrong.

I did not think that Americans were ready to elect a black president. I was convinced, as we all were, that you could not overcome your ‘original sin' of slavery that has tainted racial relations for all of your existence.

Clearly, President-elect Barack Obama saw something that the rest of us did not see. Clearly, you knew within yourself that the world was wrong. That you were bigger and you had come far enough and you were ready.

I am in awe.

CUBA
Cuban bloggers - particularly those in the diaspora - may also have been in awe, but for different reasons. Babalu Blog was gracious about the loss:

Despite my guy having lost and whatever negative feelings that brought upon me, I couldnt help but smile as I watched and listened to fellow Americans rejoicing for being Americans. Believe it or not, it made me feel good. This is, indeed, the greatest country on Earth.

So, despite some trepidation over President elect Obama's possible future policies, and despite a few folks stating overtly that anyone that voted for McCain had to be 'stupid', I'd like to congratulate the President elect and his supporters.

The Cuban Triangle also acknowledged the historical significance of the victory, as he told of an encounter he had at one of Obama's rallies:

Long before the program began, I turned to a black man standing next to me and made an attempt at light humor, telling him that in about three and a half hours, the program would be starting right up.

“I’ve been waiting my whole life,” he responded.

I got the point.

Blog for Cuba thought that Obama's win validates “what we conservatives have always understood, that the USA is the greatest country on earth, a beacon of freedom, where by the pursuit of happiness and the virtue of hard work anyone, no matter how humble their birth, can attain their dreams”. But he also made sure to turn the spotlight right back to Cuba:

Meanwhile, back in the gulag, Cuba's political prisoners are still not free, and 12 million Cubans still lack Human Rights, and are still Castro's slaves. This morning, just like yesterday Cubans still must resolver to put food in their stomachs, and to survive the repression and hardships the Castro dictatorship imposes upon them.

Obama said he will change the world. We shall see.

ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES & DOMINICA
Bloggers from the Windward Islands also had their say. Abeni was proud to announce that…

After centuries of subjugation and segregation I am unashamedly celebrating the fact that a black man is now the Commander in Chief of the United States of the America.

…while Dominica Weekly simply said:

Change has come to America and the world.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Down at the southern end of the Caribbean archipelago, bloggers were also celebrating. Coffeewallah had just two words - Barack Obama:

The world changed last night, an infinitesimal shift, those tiny ripples are going to get bigger as the weeks go by, because despite the political game, there is now someone whose office holds so much world significance, whose thinking seems to be radically different from business as usual.

Good luck to you Mr. President.

Media Watch thought that McCain's concession speech contained “lessons for local politicians on how to concede defeat without dividing a nation”, while KnowProSE.com wondered about the role of the Internet in Barack Obama's success - “not in the media blitzes that were focused on the American people, but through discussion using the Internet.”

Notes from Port of Spain urged people to savour the moment:

It's enough to see the end of cowboy politics, at least for now. To see the back of Dubya and Dick and Rumsfeld and Rove, and the shame and disgrace they have brought upon America. To see the end of a man who spent eight presidential years working through private traumas concerning his father. To have avoided the possibility of a President Palin. To move away from the politics of aggression, belligerence, arrogance and pugnacity.

That's more than enough for one sun-soaked morning.

Enjoying the moment was just what Trinidadian diaspora bloggers were doing, with photo-blogger Chookooloonks saying:

I admit it: I burst into tears.

Finally, Guanaguanare said that he looked forward to the U.S. being rewarded for their courage:

Many Americans understood that it could not be business as usual and they voted for change. Only time will tell what will be accomplished in the future but I want to acknowledge what went into the momentous victory that was accomplished tonight. I dream of a better day for all people all over the world. I dare to believe that this might be a beginning.

Diaspora blogger Signifyin' Guyana did her civic duty and voted earlier in the day. While she says there was “not much excitement” to the voting process, the anticipation in her household has been building as her son “has caught the spirit”:

He's only five years old, but he knows something big may happen tonight. So as he waits to go to the polls with his dad, dressed in sweats and a red, white, and blue t-shirt (he dressed himself), I watch with pride, and I hope and pray he's not disappointed.

Another diaspora blogger, Liza from Puerto Rico, said that the voting process was emotional for her:

I got so overwhelmed by this historic moment that I totally lost it. I came out crying from the voting booth.

All my neighbors were asking what was wrong. I couldn't say anything and Mark, who was still around, just said: ‘She's having a moment.'

I just never thought I'd see the day…I can't wait for the election results and for the words ‘Barack Obama is officially the next president of the United States'. I will have lots of tissues handy this time around.

Meanwhile, both Cuban diaspora blogger Babalu and Letters from Grenada are liveblogging the election, one on either side of the political divide. But Barbados is firmly on the Obama bandwagon, with Cheese-on-bread! saying:

Well, this is it. As the pundits like to say, no matter the outcome, history will be made. Apart from the obvious history that would be made with a win by Barack Obama, if John McCain were to (gasp) win he would be the oldest candidate to assume that position.

As Obama himself said yesterday, it will be fun to see how the story ends. His campaign has been phenomenal, and he has certainly gone the distance, something few of us could have dared to dream.

So, as we await the outcome of this heated race, I'll wish both the candidates luck…

The Bajan Dream Project echoes her sentiment:

Barack Obama has already done much for the African American community in the United States, and continues to draw admiration and inspire hope in millions in diverse regions of the World - Barbados not excluded. Whether he wins or loses, a lesson can be learnt from Barack Obama’s candidacy, and his message will redefine history for many minorities who once felt - but can no more feel - that their history as underdogs would forever cement their future as such. For that reason alone - for helping so many to ‘emancipate themselves from mental slavery’ - this candidacy transcends politics.

Havana-based Generation Y notices a change of mood in Cuba:

The street is not the same, nor are the neighbors who usually gossip in the lines at the markets; today they speak of universal themes. They raise their eyebrows and point towards the north, while they make predictions about who will be elected at the polls in the U.S. I don’t remember having lived through such a commotion during the Cuban presidential elections last February.

The cobbler in my building took a stand for one candidate and the old woman who sells flowers has been wearing a shirt with the Obama logo. Our boring trajectory of two presidents in fifty years has exacerbated the curiosity over foreign elections. We also know that the decision of U.S. voters will reverberate here and not so metaphorically as the flutter of a butterfly in the Amazon. he remittances that allow thousands of Cuban families to get to the end of the month come primarily from the other shore, where a portion of this Island lives, and where the insults—“worms,” traitors” and “mafiosos”—have not managed to sever our emotional and family ties. The political discourse of our own leaders would lose effectiveness without the United States in the role of the enemy. Never, as today, has the destiny of Cuba been so clearly separated, and yet so dependent, on what happens ninety miles away.

Still, she has her reservations:

In the face of the “uncertain prognosis” we show inside our country, there are those who assert that today’s results will either launch or derail, definitively, the cart of reforms in Cuba.

I would prefer that we drive ourselves, but very few want to exchange the work of the forecaster for the hard task of making things happen. So when I write this post, the capricious vehicle of change seems to be stuck in a rut at the side of the road. I have my doubts about whether what happens this Tuesday will get it moving.

Bahamian Nicolette Bethel is thrilled to be in New York City for this auspicious day:

Being in the US on election day, especially this election day, is historic.

This election is historic. It’s already been so — the fact that two major contenders for president were visible minorities, albeit in the same party. Whoever wins will make history — the first black president, the first female vice-president, the oldest president. But history has already been made.

She also thinks that the Bahamas could stand to learn a few lessons from the US:

Being on the outside in American elections, watching a fraction of the American people go to the polls and elect leaders whose impact resonated far beyond the borders of the USA, and suffering the consequences of those choices, has not been easy…yes, I voted in the if-the-world-could-vote poll, and yes, I voted for Obama. But I’m above all a Bahamian, and Bahamians above all are pragmatic people, and fundamentally what matters is what have we learned from this process? What have we learned from the involvement of ordinary Bahamians in the Obama campaign? What have we learned from the real chance of real change, and how will that affect us at home?

Because our last election was a joke. We never questioned our candidates about anything likely to affect us and our nation in the long run. We never demanded from them what we have seen from the American candidates. We never dissected the spin, if spin it was; we never educated ourselves in any general sense on issues, on anything that might actually matter. No. We preferred to go along with what the newspapers said, with what the talk shows said, voting from emotion rather than reason, allowing both parties to get away with sheer idiocy that has very little to do with the world in which we find ourselves.

But fellow Bahamian Rick Lowe is not quite convinced:

It looks like Barak Obama will win the presidency of the United States today and history will be made…There is no doubt that he has a great delivery and a pleasant way about him. But that does not change the circumstances he will face in office which will all but guarantee he cannot fulfil his promises.

I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts that he starts to back track in his inauguration speech as the economic reality of his political promises start to set in. And this I believe will lead to dissatisfaction with his presidency sooner rather than later. At the end of the day we all need to wish Obama well, and hope that his economic advisors steer him away from these self destructive policies as The Bahamas is highly dependent on the US, and this is unlikely to change in the years ahead.

As the night wears on, the Caribbean, like the rest of the world, will need to wait and see.

Puerto Rican Vivirlatino accuses Joe the Plumber of being racist:

Joe the Plumber was the estrella of last night's debate, with his name being thrown around left, right, and sideways. CBS interviewed the man of the hour, Joe the plumber and it turns out he's kind of racist, no? I mean I know “tap dancin around an issue” is a figure of speech pero then when he adds the whole Sammy Davis Jr. line into it, no se, it kind of takes it to a different level.

Writing at OpenDemocracy, Guy Aitchison notes how Joe the Plumber was a constant in last night's debate:

At certain points last night it felt like there were three people taking part in the debate: Obama, McCain and one “Joe the Plumber”. Joe first popped up during a discussion of Obama's tax plan and later during the discussion on healthcare. At each mention of his name the candidates would turn sincerely to the camera and explain how they had Joe's best interests at heart.

He further asks:

Was Joe the creation of clever pollsters? Were there thousands of Joe the Plumbers out there, people who would swing this election like the “security moms” supposedly did last time round? Perhaps he was simply the product of McCain's panicked imagination (he is erratic you know).  Was this new Joe any relation to “Joe six-pack”? Perhaps they were one and the same.

Waking up the next morning, Aitchison discovers that Joe the Plumber really exists - and isn't a fictional character like his namesake Joe Six-Pack:

I discovered that Joe is very much real (something I expect oD USA readers knew all along). His full name is Joe Wurzelbacher and he comes from Ohio. It was a discussion with him last Sunday that prompted Obama to speak the four short words that so disgusted Fox News readers: “spread the wealth around”. After last night's debate Joe is apparently still unconvinced that Obama's tax plan won't punish small businesses like his.

(And a commentator on this post argues that Joe isn't even registered to vote.)

Malcolm Clark, blogging at SixFifty, from the UK, draws our attention to another Joe moment in the debate which has been closely followed on and offline:

One of the clips of the night, and quite a laugh - if you’re not McCain or a Republican supporter - comes from McCain’s reaction in the health insurance segment to hearing Obama say “Joe plumber’s fine would be zero”.   That moment has now been nicknamed McCain’s “deer in headlights” moment. See for yourself here.  Politics can be cruel.  And with all this new technology now at people’s fingertips, it can be even crueller, even quicker!

Other quotes from SixFifty on Joe the Plumber include:

Super stuff via Twitter: wabisabi says: “turns out the plumbers have already endorsed Obama.” And links to this story on the plumbing union backing Obama.

“Joe the plumber” is a lucky guy.  He is the centre of this debate on the economic rescue package, and all for asking a question to Obama at a campaign event some weeks ago.  

“Is Joe the plumber and Joe-6-pack the same person?” asks someone on CNN.  Interestingly, the response seems to be (apart from someone better register “joe the plumber” as a domain, trade name, put it on vans etc), ‘I wanted it to be more about me and the issues, not about joe”.

Everyone’s talking about … Joe the plumber.  “A whiff of absurdity” about how much he turned up says a commentator on BBC Radio 5 Live.  A CNN analyst said that McCain’s repeated mentions of him went OTT and seemed contrived and possibly counter-productive.

Still in the UK, England for Obama says:

In yaddering on about “Joe the plumber”, McCain totally and utterly wasted time and energy on a story which most of the American viewing public probably had no clue about. Which only adds to his ‘out of touch’ aura.

But for Michael van der Galien, writing at Poligazette from the Netherlands, says bringing Joe into the equating was a winning point for McCain:

Quite some pundits and commentators have talked about the “Joe the Plummer” aspect of the debate. Although it is easy to make fun of Joe, and of bringing it up time and again, I believe that this is a winner issue for John McCain. Obama made a major mistake by telling Joe that he wanted to “spread the wealth around.” When confronted with it during the debate, Obama made clear that he does indeed want to redistribute wealth.

Back to the UK with Rupa Huq, who notes:

Obama was accused of early on in this whole circus plaigarising Bob the Builder early on with the “yes we can” slogan. The theme of allied building trades was continued in yesterday’s Presidential debate with the floundering John McCain raising the character of Joe the Plumber, a supposed US everyman Obama met on the campaign trail who is being courted by rightwing media, to demonstrate to what extent Democrat policies equate with redistributive socialism. Despite the hoo-ha it looks like the US plumbing union has come out for Obama. A pro-Obama t-shirt starring the bloke himself is also doing the rounds.

And Englishman in New York points us to the discussion which took place between Obama and Joe the Plumber:

Since Joe the plumber played such a big role in last night’s debate, you might be interested in taking a look at his exchange with Obama earlier in the day. (Via Daily Intel.)

Canadian Andrew Hunt felt the Joe the Plumber card was overplayed and says:

Last night's debate was the most exciting of the three debates. Lots of verbal sparring. Plenty of tough talk. John McCain could not let go of “Joe the Plumber.” Barack Obama kept his cool.

While from Guyana, Providence Stadium remarks:

Joe the Plummer and Joe Sixpack got a lot of mention whoever they are.

Writing at Pickled Politics, from the UK, Sunny argues that Obama should have hit attacked back:

Watching the final presidential debate between McCain and Barack Obama was a frustrating one for a strong supporter of Obama like me. Obama didn’t attack back enough; he didn’t point out that Sarah Palin was clearly unfit to be president; he didn’t hit back on the smears on Ayer and Acorn.

He further continues:

But I think it makes sense in a counter-intuitive way. Obama doesn’t need people like me, or similarly inclined American voters on his side. He needs to make himself comfortable to Middle America and the biggest danger to him has always been to come across as an Angry Black Man. Obama was unbelievably calm, collected and straight to the point. In fact he went out of his way to be nice while McCain was constantly attacking and putting on that fake, scary smile. Damn that smile is scary, and McCain looked almost wierd by flashing it so constantly.

Jotman, whose blog focuses on Thailand, notes the best and worst lines from the debate.

His best Obama quotes are:

• “Not true. Even Fox News disputes it.”
  
• “I don't think America's youth are an ‘interest group.' They are our future.”
  
• “He (McCain) has been watching (too many) ads of Sen McCain.”
• “Americans less interested in our hurt feelings than addressing the issues.”*
• “Let me tell you who I associate with . . . “on economic policy, Warren
  Buffet, on foreign policy: Joe Biden, the Republican Lugar, General Jim Jones of NATO. I think that this [your attacks on me for my association with Ayers] is such an important part of your campaign says a lot more about you than about me.”*

And his worst McCain lines from the debate are:

• “Including [$3 million] for an overhead projector in his home town.” That's an utterly unsubstantiated criticism of Obama. It's an issue McCain brought up twice in the last debate. See this post. I would call it a lie, one big philistine lie.

• “I come from a long line of McCains that have served our country in war and in peace.” This line irritates me because McCain should not have to say this about himself. He should have others say this sort of thing for him. It also seems a blatant attempt to remind voters that McCain is “a regular American guy,” not like “that one.”

From Bangladesh, Mash concludes:

So, the narrative is set now. Barack Obama is calm, thoughtful, and presidential. John McCain is angry, erratic, and petty. The risky candidate is John McCain - a trait that always loses elections.

Mash notes that the debate was a ‘bad night' for McCain:

He came into the debate with a steep hill to climb. He ended the debate further behind.

The blogger adds:

McCain spent the remainder of the debate either being angry or pushing Republican ideology on social issues, tax policy, education and healthcare. Early on in the debate McCain declared he was not George Bush. Late in the debate he proved that he indeed was George Bush by pushing familiar and failed policy prescriptions. He may have made his base happy, but the few independents that remained undecided probably moved into Obama’s column tonight.

From Guyana, Providence Stadium gives a thumbs up to Obama, saying:

Without going into the details of each of the candidate's programs and policies - Obama sounded level headed and more presidential, while McCain was bitching, moaning and bordering on senility, looks like he might explode in a rage at any minute.

But Canadian Strong Conservative argues:

The more I see Obama however, the more nervous he makes me. This guy has no clue about the economy, no clue about foreign policy, and a history that no one really knows about. His entire life is veiled in secrecy and misdirection and he can't point to one single accomplishment in his life. It is frightening to think that Obama is so close to the Presidency, a man who wants to gut the military, retreat in the face of terrorists, and impose a socialistic ideology on America.

On McCain's policies, he writes:

McCain is right that the solution is not government to most of the problems facing America. If anything, the recent financial crisis has proven that government causes far more problems than it solves. That should be reason enough not to vote for Barack Obama.

Michael van der Galien, from Dutch Poligazette, takes both presidential candidates to task regarding their facial expressions. He notes:

One big problem with McCain: his strange, dismissive smirk. It looks horrible and it gives people the impression he’s incredibly arrogant. Even when he’s making a good point, that smirk ruins it.

Obama has his own weakness: he seems annoyed, and his face showed it when McCain said something he didn’t quite like. That’s bad. Don’t show your emotions and don’t give people the impression you feel like you’re wasting your time (even if it’s true).

And Kanishk Tharoor, from OpenDemocracy live-blogged the debate here.

The US does not need another military fighter pilot for president. The Bushes were fighter pilots, although Bush junior only saw action guarding the Mexican border until he went AWOL.

Military Fighter pilots are not stable individuals, that is why airlines do not recruit them anymore, instead airlines recruit military pilots who fly cargo or troop transport aircraft.

Joe the Plummer and Joe Sixpack got a lot of mention whoever they are.

Darryl Wolk, a Canadian blogger, is of the former category. He states:

As a Catholic, I am glad that Pope Benedict XVI addressed this issue head on. It will take more than words and apologies, to heal the scars caused by the actions of some priests towards the victims. I think today was a step in the right direction for my church.

Leon J. Suseran of the Guyana Chronicle Blog, wishes he could have been there:

IF there was a time that I wished I was in the United States, then it would be right now, when the leader of the world’s 1.2 Billion Roman Catholics Pope Benedict XVI makes his first apostolic journey to that nation. His visit comes at a time that the holy Roman Catholic Church is under attack from all corners, including the recent sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the Church, but not the faith of tens of millions worldwide, who have continued under these dark times to practice the faith that was handed down by the apostles.

From Trinidad and Tobago, Jeremy Taylor, on the other hand, is frustrated by the Pope's inaction:

It's not enough for the Pope to be “ashamed” of his American paedophile priests, as he claimed to be today on his way to the US. He also has to do something about them. Actually, a lot more than just “something.”

Talk Turkey wonders what effect the papal visit will have on the U.S. elections:

I wonder if the Pope will meet with Obama, Hillary, and McCain as well. After all, this is an election year. And there are an estimated 70 million Catholics in the U.S., some of whom I would suspect have experienced divorce, practiced sex before marriage, had an abortion, and were (or know someone who have been) abused as a child by the clergy.

And Dave Weinberg of Jewneric focuses on the positives of the Pope's visit to a synagogue, which sets an historical precedent:

The Pope going to an American shul is, however, a very big deal and really shows the positive progress our two communities have made. It is even more appropriate that the Pope visit a synagogue on the eve of Passover, being that the Last Supper was a Seder.

Creative Commons-licensed photo by john.sonderman.

Senator Barack Obama's astounding success in Iowa - the first of the caucuses that will ultimately result in the victorious nominee from each of the two main political parties going on to contest the 2008 US presidential election - has struck a chord with many Caribbean bloggers.

Barack Obama on a visit to New York in June 2007. Photo by kiskeyacity

Posts range from the coverage of a full-blown endorsement of Obama by the US Virgin Islands Governor, to hopeful questions about whether history could actually be unfolding before our eyes. Some bloggers think he's the perfect candidate for the next US president, others aren't so sure, but there's no doubt that the Senator for Illinois is giving the Caribbean blogosphere something to talk about…

Haitian-born blogger kiskeácity “captured some inspiring moments” at the Iowa Caucus Party in Downtown Manhattan, making her earlier post that much more pertinent.

But Further Thoughts wonders “how much of this is real”:

A month ago, people seemed to be saying that yes, Obama will win in Iowa, but it doesn’t matter all that much.

But then Obama won in Iowa, and the narrative changed. The latest polls suggest that real change is afoot. Obama is surging in New Hampshire and nationally. But how solid is this? Have people made up their minds, or are they just saying what the press tells them they should be thinking?

Liza Sabater, Puerto Rican by birth, mixed race by ethnicity, views Obama as the perfect example of “the audacity of biracial hope”:

Recognizing how ingrained racism and prejudice is the culture at-large and the psyche within, is the most important first step for any liberal hoping to discuss and understand the audacity of Barack Obama's hope.

Barack Obama comes from a world in which he has not just seen but lived the good and bad of both ends of the color spectrum. There is no need to defend one over the other because he knows how similarly good and similarly bad people can be. He understand social economic catastrophes are not predetermined by a person's race but are wrought by government policies that exploit the politically disenfranchised and the economically weak.

In other words, he understands that race is just one part of the political equation.

Meanwhile, Signifyin' Guyana poses the question:

Do you think he will win the whole thing? Why? Why not? Does he need black voters to carry him through?

Blogging from Trinidad and Tobago, Club Soda and Salt is not convinced:

“They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose,” Mr. Obama said.

Well, this “common purpose” sounds nice, but what is it? I honestly have no idea, and I feel like the Obama campaign hasn’t really ever defined it. This nicely captures the “something missing” that is part of why I can’t actively back Obama over the other Dems.

I’m fine with him getting the nomination, and I’d love to see him be president, but this is part of why the Obama campaign has let me down a little.

In contrast, blogger Jeremy Taylor chalks one up for Obama:

If it gives America the sense that this guy might actually be electable, then Iowa will have done the world a service. The president of the US is pretty much the president of the world, so America's choice next November is of more than passing interest to the planet.

…The rest of the world desperately needs an American president with some common sense. Someone who can stop this lunatic war in Iraq and fight “terrorism” without creating ten new terrorists for each one taken down. Someone who wouldn't rush to applaud Mwai Kabaki for winning a rigged election in Kenya. Someone who is not afraid of the Israelis and thus can lean on them and produce a settlement in Palestine. Someone who will dismantle the crazy 45-year confrontation with Cuba. Someone who doesn't wear cowboy hats.

For Seldo.com, it comes down to a simple issue of technological savvy:

Obama is the candidate who understands that the Internet is not just a technology, not just a new industry, but a fundamental change to the nature of public discourse, and like any other form of free speech, it needs to be encouraged and protected from vested interests who would seek to control it to their own ends.

Linking to Obama's blog post in The Daily Kos, Liza Sabater writes:

This may be, by the way, the post that alienated the Obama campaign from not just the netroots crowd but the whole progressive blogosphere.

Obama is not out to get the enemy. He is out to build bridges, heal old wounds. Barack's campaign is all about bringing all peoples into the democratic process by putting politics back on the kitchen table by calling it Hope.

No matter the race or ethnicity.

No matter the religion or political ideology.

Jeremy Taylor echoes her sentiment…sort of:

Obama? He sounds as if he's so wonderful that he'll be all things to all men and all women. You look at him and wonder, can he really make it? If he does, could he sustain it? In Washington, would he be a pushover, would he get fat and pompous, would he be allowed to implement any liberal ideas? How long would it take the wolves to tear him to bits?

But if you want change, Obama — so far — seems the one who's up for it. The best of a dubious lot.