Time magazine has nominated the president-elect, Barack Hussein Obama, as the man of the year 2008. This is another feather in his cap which is already decorated with so many other feathers. He is the first black president of the United States of America in its entire history. He was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review which in itself was quite an honor. He was the only black candidate for the presidential election among tens of other who were all white.

A couple of years ago, not many people knew who Obama was, so much so that during his election debates, his rival candidates rightly asserted time after time that he was unknown to the people whose votes he sought. His name was unfamiliar and so very un-American; he himself joked about it. According to David von Drehle (Why History Can’t Wait? Time Magazine, http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/printout/0.29239,1861...),..half the people in America had never heard of him two years ago – that even his campaign manager, at the outset, wasn’t sure Obama had what it takes to win the election.� On the other hand, his opponents Hillary Clinton and John McCain were household names for the voters. In spite of his relative anonymity, Obama beat them quite handily. Such success seems to come to him naturally although it is true that his election campaign was by far the best organized of them all. He was able to raise some three quarters of a billion dollars in campaign money which is the highest ever in campaign history. The man is really intriguing.

I have never been interested in election politics but this time it was different. Obama’s simplicity and self-assuredness impressed me and I wanted to know more about him. I read his autobiographical account, Dreams from My Father, from cover to cover. Through out the book, he seems quite an ordinary person yet so very distinguished at the same time.

He is ordinary in the sense that he is more like one of us, the people in the street, than like one of them, the Clintons, Kennedys et al, the people of the high political profiles. But he is extraordinary because he beat them all, that is, his rival contestants in the primaries and general election. He beat Hillary Clinton, the ex-first lady, in the primaries and John McCain, the formidable war hero, in the general election. Obama’s ordinariness is really impressive.

He seems to be comfortable everywhere and in every environment. He seldom lost his cool in his election debates and even the very-non-observant people could not help noticing his coolness in all circumstances. When he went to Kenya to get acquainted with his African genealogical roots, he was instantly at home with his hundreds of African relatives, his uncles, aunts, granduncles, grandaunts, stepbrothers, sisters. cousins and every one else, living in the native mud huts as if he was one of them and lived there with them for ever and ever. He did not inherit these traits from his old man (he called his father old man like his step sister Auma) or grandfather who were known for their temper. He is the son of a black (Kenyan) Muslim father and a white (Kansan) Christian mother. Although he himself is a Christian in spite of his name which sounds Muslim, he is quite comfortable and homely not only with Muslims and Christians but people of all faiths and no faith.

He kept his composure even when he was elected to the highest office in the world, president of the United States, although some other seasoned politicians like Jesse Jackson found it difficult to contain their emotions and wept with joy for him on his victory.

During his election campaign, he de-emphasized political partisanship and asserted that we are not the red or blue States, we are the United States of America. This was not mere sloganeering for winning the election, he is putting this assertion into practice by selecting the members of his administration from all parties. He has appointed Robert Gates, Defense Secretary in George W. Bush’s administration, as Defense Secretary in his administration. This position is only next to the position of Secretary of State in importance; he has appointed his bitter rival, Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. He has also appointed Ray LaHood, a Republican, as Secretary of Transportation. Obama does not have any personal grudge against any body which makes his persona all the more unique and versatile.

Looking at some of his appointees who had also served in previous administrations, some people feel diffident and complain that his administration is not much different from the previous ones. How can he then deliver ‘change’ that he promised in his political campaign? He reassures such diffident people that his presidency will be different and he will see to it that the change he promised is delivered. Majority of the people believe him.

The problems that his presidency has inherited are huge, e.g., the economic depression which is reminiscent of the great depression of 1929, and the Iraq war, among many others. It remains to be seen how he will tackle them and restore some normalcy in the country and the world at large.