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.

Letters from Grenada, who was liveblogging the election, is thrilled at the results:

11:51 PM: It’s over. Wow. Thank you, California. Wow. Wow.

Blogging from Jamaica, miss mel comments:

You've finally realised as a group (in your 44th presidential race) that women and minorities (maybe I should just tie that up and say marginalised groups) have front line potential.

Fellow Jamaican Stunner waxes a bit more poetic:

So much persons in the US, in Europe and in the Caribbean was hoping and keeping their finger crossed that Obama would carry home the victory. It's almost unheard of, a non-white being elected as the president of the united states of America!

The issue should be who is best suited for the job and not the colour of ones skin, but one cannot help but to feel proud that a black man has accomplished what most if not all of us felt was impossible… well until now.

I am not into politics, but I can't help feeling overwhelmed with emotions after witnessing such a great historic moments. Congratulations Barack Obama!!!

But Stunner admits there are a few unknowns:

This is just the beginning though, there is a lot of work at hand for the new president. The American economy, the world economy, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the environment and international relations. What does his victory mean for us in the Caribbean? Will we benefit form Obama's victory? Will he truly make a good president? Will his policies make the world better? There are a lot more questions to be answered along with these and only time will tell.

The Devil Island, blogging from Bermuda, wanted to be the first web cartoonist to congratulate Obama on his historic win, while Barbados diaspora blogger Keltruth Corp says:

It did not take long tonight for Obama to build an insurmountable lead against McCain. I can get an early night’s sleep!

This will be a new era in World Politics, as the American political landscape becomes much more liberal and less militaristic.

The offshore industry in Barbados must have some concerns, as it will not be business as usual!

While some bloggers are already analysing what this could mean for the region, Trinidad and Tobago-based Liming House is still trying to grasp the significance of what just happened, saying simply:

Words fail.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines blogger Numalali says:

Barack Obama is an inspiration to all mankind. Well done my brother!

Vincentian compatriot Lullabies, Fairy Tales and other Self-Delusions adds:

America has spoken. The rest of us applaud their amazing decision.

Barbados Free Press doesn't mince words:

There is a lot at stake in the US Presidential election that goes far beyond who will be the leader of that country for the next four years. Whether Obama is white, black, coffee or purple doesn’t count anything beside the specter of the United States continuing along it’s current path.

That military-industrial complex has run free since 9/11 and continues to do so. Under the guise of protecting people from Muslim terrorists, the United States government and other world governments have convinced their populations to surrender hard-won freedoms and individual rights. Breaches of the existing human rights and personal freedoms laws by authorities are treated with indifference by all sectors of Western governments - and that includes the Barbados government.

There is much at stake in the US election for Barbados and the rest of the world.

Blogging from Trinidad and Tobago, This Beach Called Life refers to a poll published in The Economist magazine to underscore the fact that the world appears to favour Barack Obama:

I don’t intend to tell Americans who to vote for but the World seems to have made up its mind.

Jamaican blog A Fe Me Page Dis Iyah even posts some videos to prove the extent to which “the Caribbean community supports Barack Obama”, but some bloggers are not comfortable counting their chickens just yet. Numalali, from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, says:

All the indicators point to a victory for Barack Obama. He is ahead on every predictive index. But, can we count on the the polls, the pundits and the predictions? Is America ready for a black man, a black woman, a black family in charge of the White House? Like millions around the world I await with bated breath.

In a follow-up post, Numalali continues:

The whole world is in a frenzy. Both Obama critics and supporters are doing all they they could to either diefy or demonize him. Let us all wait and see what happens on Tuesday.

Womanish Words (from the Bahamas) is optimistic:

Amazing days, America appears to be on the verge of electing a Black president. This is really a ray of light and hope for the world. Obama’s election will change everything. Change is good. I’m grateful to be here to witness it. I grew up electing Black prime ministers. But there I was, keening for a good thirty three seconds at the thought of a new world leader who is actually a good man. And just to make it all the better, he's Black. He's a symbol of a new day dawning, a new generation emerging, a new era beginning. After the tears, I forced myself to remember that it's not over yet.

It certainly isn't over yet. Circles Robinson, blogging from Havana, knows that there is a lot at stake:

The US elections on Tuesday have overshadowed my thoughts. I’m not alone. A lot of people on the island are wondering what’s going to happen, as is a good chunk of the world.

Up until the explosion of the current financial crisis, I firmly believed that John McCain was going to be the next president, the same way that I thought George W. Bush would win reelection in 2004.

The race and terror cards and preference for the old but known seemed to me more powerful than anything the Obama campaign could come up with.

I still fear that McCain has a shot to win, but I’m no longer so sure of my predictions for the US electorate.

There’s a lot of responsibility on the backs of US voters on Tuesday. Cubans like the rest of the world will be watching with angst.

An American living in the Caribbean writes in her blog, Letters from Grenada:

I admit I’m more than a little nervous. I’m a lot nervous.

I can easily recall how casually confident I was in 2000. In 2004 I was fiercely confident, because how could lightning strike twice? (Answer: Easily, if you’re still standing in the same place.)

But it will be different this time! Wednesday’s going to a (real) new morning in America.

Bermudian blogger The Devil Island can't stand the tension and posts one of his signature cartoons to prove it, while his compatriot Breezeblog implores Americans to “do the right thing - for humanity’s sake”:

With just a few hours to go, here’s hoping that Americans finally do the right thing and make history by electing Barack Obama President. They couldn’t possibly screw it up a third time, could they?

Barbados Underground has no problem with calling a win for Obama “by a landslide”:

If we are to judge by the results of our unscientific poll, Obama will be the winner of the USA 2008 Presidential election with over 400 electoral votes. After careful analysis we are prepared to say that Democrat Presidential hopeful Barack Obama will win with 300+ Electoral votes.

It has been an amazing campaign for several reasons. As the world watches, the United States of America seems set to catapult a man of colour into the White House. When it does happen the world maybe changed forever.

Trinidad-based Coffeewallah, who maintains that “every day is history in the making”, concedes that today is a “red letter day” for America:

Whatever happens…there will a first, either first Black American President or first Woman Vice President. I wonder at the American people who constantly cannot understand why the rest of the world “does not like us”, we've seen up close and personal what you really think. Those of us that are a different colour have no illusions at all, as we say in the Caribbean, “your business in the road”. I hope that Barack Obama wins, decisively. What a message that's going to send…

Chookooloonks, a Trinidad diaspora blogger who is also a US citizen, says:

Everything is about to change. Regardless of who wins the election, in my opinion this has been one of the hottest, most contentious races in recent history. Regardless of who wins the election, there will be a new president of the United States, the first new American leader in 8 years, and the results of this election will have global impact. Regardless of who wins the election, things are going to change.

And, for the first time since I became a U.S. citizen 14 years ago, I find myself really emotionally invested in the outcome: dear God, I care. I really, really care.

The opportunity to vote is one of those times when you get to draw a line in the sand, put your stake in the ground, and do whatever other metaphor you can think of that says, “hear me, dammit. I count. I matter. I believe this to be true.” The act of pulling that lever, or pressing that button, or clicking that icon is a very, very powerful thing. Do not believe that your vote doesn't matter. It matters. It so matters.

Caribbean bloggers - most of them anyway - cannot pull that lever, or press that button or click that icon. But they can make their voices heard. Antilles, the weblog of the Caribbean Review of Books, sums it up this way:

Finally: it seems every newspaper and magazine in the world has endorsed one candidate or another…with Obama the overwhelmingly popular choice. Your Antilles blogger, like most of the world's population, can't vote, but feels he has a lot at stake in tomorrow's events. If the CRB were to endorse a candidate, who would it be? The smart, eloquent, cool, confident one who looks like he could be from the Caribbean, of course–that one.

Jamaica's Abeng News Magazine begins the discussion by saying:

On the eve of probably the most pivotal election in US history, Americans have seen the best and worst of themselves…the presidential campaign has become a cutting board to expose the viscera of the nation's attitudes toward its ethnic and cultural diversity, a landscape vastly changed since the late 1960s. There is no need to wait until after the elections to declare these observations, for win or lose for either party, these past months have spoken for America, the vigor and intensity of the campaign mounting, even as the nation agonizingly searches itself, struggles with itself, and strives to find its direction and character for the twenty-first century. In these last few months, America has re-invented itself.

But reinvention does not necessarily mean change. The Abeng post continues:

It has been no surprise to learn that deep-seated racial prejudice remains a distinctive feature of the American landscape, and no one is naive enough to think that it will ever be eradicated, even if Obama emerges victor. Team Obama has been careful to avoid any semblance of civil rights issues in its campaign, projecting the candidate as a champion of the rights of all Americans, instead of pandering to any single group.

At the same time the McCain/Palin campaign has stoked the fires of these fears, feeding on the xenophobia of their supporters by sowing seeds of doubt about the opponent's political affiliations and ideology, even speculating about his status of being a natural-born US citizen, and claiming his birth certificate and supporting documents were forgeries. It is ironic that any such speculations regarding John McCain's eligibility (he was born in the Panama Canal Zone and not on US soil) were quickly put to rest. With a new CNN poll showing McCain closing the gap, Team Obama cannot afford to take its lead for granted.

Barbados Underground agrees:

At the risk of sounding like a pessimist, I warn the many die hard Obama supports that its not over by a long shot. There are a number of factors that if combined could quite easily lead to us waking up on November 5th to McCain as the president elect and de facto leader of the world.

As we look forward to next week Tuesday, there is a distinct possibility that the youth may not turn out in their numbers. Already from the statistics we have from early voting, it appears that youth have not taken advantage of the opportunity to vote in as large a proportion as they did in the primaries. History also presents the precedent of past elections (Gore in 2000, Kerry in 2004) where youth seemed energized behind a candidate but on Election Day did not translate that energy into voting. If youth do not come out in great numbers on Election Day, Barack could lose one of his major constituencies.

The Barbadian blogger also thinks that the polls may prove to be a disadvantage for Obama:

As paradoxical as this may seem, Obama’s present commanding lead in the polls benefits McCain. A lead like this in the polls may act to encourage McCain supporters and those who are anti-liberal but not necessarily Republican (Libertarians for example) to come out in their numbers to support McCain for fear of having a Democratic President, House and Senate. If this occurs in key battle ground states, it could give McCain the much needed boost he needs to get catch up to Obama. Similarly, Obama’s lead could lead to overconfidence and complacency on the part of his supporters which causes many of them not to vote since in their eyes Obama has already clinched the presidency. If this happened in key states like Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania it could be a route to a McCain presidency.

Meanwhile, Jamaican diaspora blogger Pamela Mordecai is more focused on the issues than on the polls. She writes a thoughtful post (in which she refers to Connie Bruck's interview with Republican Senator Chuck Hagel in The New Yorker) that puts forward a rationale for why pro-lifers should feel comfortable casting their ballot for Obama:

I don’t believe in abortion. I do believe that those who don’t ‘play the game' ought to be a little less arrogant, a little more respectful, a little more like Jesus when they spout the rules. These are important issues, complex ones, that we need to talk more, and more intelligently, and more honestly, about.

I believe that we arrive at wisdom and discernment in our decisions by prayer, meditation, contemplation of the Word of God, and fasting, in deep humility and with a great reluctance to judge. That is what I, at any rate, feel that I am called to – a journey far more difficult than mere observation of The Law. That Old Law is, after all, fulfilled in a New One, and according to that New Law – “Thou shalt love the Lord the God with thy whole heart and thy whole soul and thy whole mind and all thy strength; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself…” – I am very hard put to see Sarah Palin and John McCain as loving their neighbours.

And I know there’s no guarantee that what they say they will do about Roe vs Wade, they will in fact do, or be able to do. Nor is there any guarantee that, the law having been changed, women will keep their babies. People know how to get abortions, and doctors will always be found to perform them.

One needs to decide, then, what one wishes: the ‘righteous’ satisfaction of having a law enacted, or the real triumph of building a society in which men and women revere sex for the happy gift it is and have babies that they want and keep.

So I would rather pray for courage on the part of women who carry babies in these last days. I would rather pray for a media that stops reducing the relationships of men and women to mere rutting, a mating that is without context or grandeur or grace. I would rather pray for an America that does not exploit parents who wish homes of their own in which to raise their children, an America that works to supply jobs that can support families, an America that provides parents and children with adequate medical care, and the opportunity for a sound education.

But Trinidad and Tobago-based blogger Jeremy Taylor is a tad cynical (or is it realistic?) about the American political machine:

The American electoral system, simply by existing, corrupts.

The irresistible pull towards the centre — essential now, it seems, to electability anywhere in the west — means that Obama has had to shelve, or defer, or forget about, the things he really wants to do, the things that would mark him out as a truly reforming president. He has had to learn to spend his days jetting around a continent playing the schoolyard game (yes you did … no I didn’t: you stand for higher taxes … no I don’t). He has had to learn to reduce complicated policies and strategies to one-word slogans, flatten out complex nuances of meaning and vision and intent into platitudes about who will make the best commander-in-chief, the best guarantor of security, the best champion of the rich, or the poor, or whatever. He has had to become a Washington-style politician even while railing against Washington.

To become electable, in other words, is to leave behind all the things you wanted to be elected for. If the money doesn’t compromise you, if the crowds and the rhetoric don’t corrupt you, Machiavellian pragmatism will.

Puerto Rican blogger Gil the Jenius is having none of it. His hopes, like many others in the region, are pinned on an Obama presidency and he quotes an Economist article to prove his point.

Pundits and polls and predictions aside, until November 4, no-one knows how this election will turn out. Caribbean bloggers are counting down the days. In the words of Abeng News Magazine:

Heading into the final days of the campaign, regardless of early voting and polling data, the nail-biting suspense will run anxieties high and tempers thin, as the nation sits on the edge and awaits the final count. For many, after a long and extremely punishing campaign, Election Day can't come a moment too soon.

A Jamaican residing in the Cayman Islands, Mad Bull examines the race issue after reading an article in The New York Times in which “Jamaica was held up as an example of racial harmony because the racial majority (black people) elected Edward Seaga (a white man) in as prime minister.” Mad Bull comments:

This was interesting to me in light of the discussion that was taking place in my post of October 16th, which spoke of such things as being an example of the self-hatred and the hatred of all things black that is deeply ingrained in Jamaicans.

I guess its all about how you look at things, isn’t it?

Larry Smith, blogging at Bahama Pundit, says that “with only a week to go before the election, Barack Obama has taken a significant lead over John McCain among American voters. But in the rest of the world he has been a shoo-in for months.” He goes on to quote polls and statistics which suggest that everyone from the Brits to the Germans expect US/European relations to improve under an Obama presidency. Smith then goes on to examine the odds:

Until the financial meltdown changed the game, it was not at all clear that Obama would prevail. An aging military hero paired with an attractive moose-hunting woman seemed to have more appeal to red-blooded Americans than a brown-skinned young lawyer with a foreign name who could easily be depicted as un-American in the traditional sense.

Of greatest interest to the Bahamian blogger, however, are the candidates' policies and their potential effects on his country's economy:

Last year, Obama was part of a bi-partisan effort to pass a bill to stop Americans from using offshore financial centres as tax dodges. If passed, the law would allow the government to take special measures against tax havens and financial institutions that impede US enforcement efforts.

Experts say the US Treasury loses $100 billion a year because of offshore tax evasion. Obama cites this as a basic issue of fairness and integrity, arguing that those who work hard and play by the rules shouldn't be disadvantaged. McCain has opposed cracking down on tax havens, but he has also spoken out against offshore banking practices. He advocates cutting tax rates in the US to make moving offshore less attractive.

He continues:

It is unclear what impact Obama would have on the Bahamian financial sector given the fact that we already have a tax information exchange treaty with the US, but some argue that we will face an “uncomfortable environment.”

Bermudian blogger Vexed Bermoothes feels just as conflicted:

As a symbol of hope and change, Barack Obama has a lot of support in Bermuda…but we must remember that candidate Obama is potentially a major threat to Bermuda.

Bermuda has made huge investments to meet international standards for regulation and transparency in its business sector, and those efforts have been recognised by entities such as the OCED and the IMF.

However, in the US, which is searching for both scapegoats and revenue, Senator Obama has co-sponsored a Bill titled the ‘Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act’ introduced by Senator Carl Levin.

As well as providing a statutory framework to define ‘offshore secrecy jurisdictions’, the Bill includes a list of 34 countries which will be automatically considered as tax havens and targeted by the US Government.

That list includes most of the “business” Caribbean islands, as well as Bermuda.

The Bahama Pundit post goes on to quote Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who says that “an Obama presidency would be ‘a breath of fresh air'.” Smith suggests that his position may be somewhat influenced by the fact that the Manning government “will host the next president to a 34-nation Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain next April” - but goes on to say:

In his Partnership for the Americas policy statement, Obama concedes that US relations with the region have “frayed, as the Bush administration pursued a misguided foreign policy with a myopic focus on Iraq”. He says America has been “negligent to our friends, ineffective with our adversaries and disinterested in the challenges that matter to peoples’ lives”.

He promises to pay more attention to the region by reinstating a special envoy for the Americas. And he vows to liberalise relations with Cuba, engage with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, close the Guantanamo prison, give more aid to Haiti, help the region invest in renewable energy, and expand cooperation on crime and drug trafficking.

Perhaps more significantly, an Obama presidency will be in a position to reform the world's financial architecture in the wake of the current economic turmoil.

Smith sums up his post by saying:

For historical reasons, in terms of what it will mean for American society and for the international community, we look forward to an Obama presidency.

…which suggests that despite the potentially negative effects of Obama's policies on some Caribbean economies, many regional bloggers are still hoping for a black president in the White House.

That's it. Vice President Nominee Sarah Palin has bridged the Bering Strait and the Russians are in love. Watch as Vlad and Boris sing their hearts out to “Misses Palin” and even incorporate some Jamaican “butterfly” moves into their homage to their Alaskan neighbour. It's hilarious.

“Mrs. Palin, I want to fly into your airspace, Mrs. Palin, I want to rear my little head.