New Zimbabwe
6 November 2012
BARACK Obama was retained as United States president for a new four-year term following Tuesday’s elections, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Thousands of Zimbabweans around the world stayed up all night into Wednesday to witness America’s pageant of democracy in action.
Among them, Education Minister David Coltart marvelled at the ease of voting and rapid release of results. He said on Twitter: “It takes an election in such a vast country to show us Zimbabweans what we need to do if we are to respect our right to elect.
“We need to restore national pride in Zimbabwe. We cannot remain the laughing stock of the world by having such poorly run elections.â€
Obama, the son of a Kenyan immigrant father and American mother, was returned to the White House despite a weak economy that plagued his first term and put a crimp in the middle class dreams of millions.
In victory, the Democrat spoke to thousands of cheering supporters in Chicago, praising Romney and promising that better days are ahead.
“While our road has been hard, though our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up. We have fought our way back and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come,” he said.
Romney made a graceful concession speech before a disappointed crowd in Boston. He summoned all Americans to pray for Obama and urged the night’s political winners to put partisan bickering aside and “reach across the aisle” to tackle the nation’s problems.
Romney won in North Carolina but Obama swept to victory in Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Wisconsin, Virginia and Colorado.
With Florida the last swing state left to call, he had 303 electoral college votes to Romney’s 206 and was well over the crucial threshold of 270.
“Tonight more than 200 years after a former colony won the right to determine its own destiny, the task of perfecting our union moves forward,†he declared.
“Democracy in a nation of 300 million can be noisy and messy and complicated… These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty, and we can never forget that as we speak, people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter — the chance to cast their ballots like we did today.â€
Before appearing in person, he had told his supporters via Twitter: “This happened because of you. Thank you”, then “we’re all in this together. That’s how we campaigned and that’s who we are. Thank you”.
He also wrote an email, promising to “spend the rest of my presidency honouring your support, and doing what I can to finish what we started”.
In his victory speech, he praised “the best campaign team and volunteers in the history of politicsâ€, describing the thousands of volunteers who helped his campaign as “familyâ€.
“No matter what you do or where you go from here, you will carry the memory of the history we made together. And you will have the lifelong appreciation of a grateful president,†he added.
With typical oratory flourish, Obama promised to “build on the progress we’ve made and continue to fight for new jobs and new opportunities and new security for the middle class.â€
“I believe we can seize this future together because we are not as divided as our politics suggests,†he said. “We’re not as cynical as the pundits believe. We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and forever will be, the United States of America.
“And together, with your help and God’s grace, we will continue our journey forward and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on earth.â€