As she watched Obama’s acceptance speech, while scanning the audience for famous rappers, Shanxi-born PR executive Yuanyuan shed some tears. This emotional response came because it was so moving to finally see an American president who could put two sentences together. Obama’s rhetorical ability might not equal Chairman Mao’s, but it was better than that of a kindergarten student. Explaining her other reasons for crying she said “America is still America!” and that the country she knew when she was growing up had now regained its spirit. After so many years of making cynical jokes about the United States, she feels that the country finally has hope.
Acknowledging that it is quite boring to always talk about Obama’s ethnicity, Yuanyuan observes that it has taken centuries for the West to surmount its history of prejudice. She encourages Americans to remember the amount of sweat and tears of civil rights activitists that went into bringing this outcome. Developing countries will find this outcome most inspirational, she says. And finally the country has a beautiful first family!
At the same time, Yuanyuan acknowleges that expectations will inevitably be too high and the new president has to face a huge number of challenges including the recession and the wars started by the previous administration. As this article in Chinese from Sohu says so well, we cannot treat Obama as though he is a god, because the problems faced now demand no less.
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