Many of us never thought we would see the day when a black man would become president of the USA, but in the early hours of Wednesday morning, it happened.
Sen Barack Obama will become the 44th president of the United States of America when he is sworn into office in January. It is no less than a milestone day in the history of black America.
Looking at things locally, what could the Obama victory mean for Galway politics? That is not such an outlandish question - could the African-American Obama’s victory inspire Galway based Africans (or indeed any members of the city and county’s non-national community ) to stand for the 2009 Local Elections?
In 2004 Nigerians Paul Osikoya and Tokie Laotan ran for City Hall. Mr Osikoya is running next year for The Green Party for the Tuam Town Council, but could other Africans - feeling they have something to offer Galway, and encouraged and inspired by an ‘If Obama can do it so can I attitude’ - throw their hat into the ring?
This column has repeatedly emphasised that a smooth way to integration is to encourage non-nationals into the local political process. The Greens and Labour know this, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have yet to properly realise it.
It is never a bad thing to have a fresh face and a new perspective in the council chamber, and so Galway could perhaps benefit by producing its own Barack Obama.
