It has been a strange experience for me personally. I have been staying in the US watching live TV for all the three Obama-McCain debates and for the Palin-Biden debate. And now I am here on election day. I am again glued to the TV switching from one news channel to another as they “call” the results.

I have been a traditional Republican supporter. My first mood change happened while watching the debates. McCain was simply not very convincing. He certainly did himself a considerable degree of disservice by not keeping his cool. Obama did not have all the answers, but he appeared more thoughtful. On balance, he came across as a more reasonable leader. Unlike many of my friends, I did not react negatively to Palin. I thought that she held her own pretty well. And despite the hyper-aggressiveness of her critics, I was left with the distinct impression that Palin is a leader who we are going to see a great deal more of in the years to come. I think of the impressive women leaders in India: Jayalalithaa, Mamata and Mayawati — who are looked down upon by self-styled fashionable intellectuals, but all of whom in my opinion are quite impressive.

Tonight I am in the company of my well-informed Indian-American friend Kanhai Shah. We discuss endlessly the superb quality of Obama’s campaign management and the luck factor that he has been blessed with. If the financial markets had collapsed eight months ago, Obama might not have won the primaries. If they had waited another three months to fall, he might not have won the presidential election. But that is being churlish. Everybody deserves a bit of luck. Especially one who has demonstrated the extraordinary competence that he has in his campaign management. Obama has put the Republicans on the defensive in their own strongholds. He has out-performed them on collection of funds and has spent the money strategically, forcing McCain and Palin to run hither and thither as they try to defend erstwhile safe territories and try desperately to win new ones. Obama has carried black voters for sure, but not by appealing to their sense of victimhood or by raising the rhetoric. Instead, he has focused on reassuring educated white voters by holding out the promise of literally “transcending” race.

... contd.