As the world draws it curtain on the most wretched year in terms of economy, lets look back at some of the people, event that defined new directions for many. This is a sort of continuation of a series of post that I had last year.

Let me begin with the most recent one, Barrack Obama, the man who is a symbol that humans have finally begun to recognize the individual beneath the color of the skin. I must confess that I didn’t think it was possible, deep down I anticipated that the Bradley effect would come into play. But it didn’t. I think my fear is more because of me being an Indian, where race, religion, caste are a major segregators in the society. The individual comes later. In India, the politicians draw overt advantages by playing these cards.

Anyways, so Obama is the man of the moment. The media ran the images of Jesse Jackson in tears, but I guess many more blacks, especially who have lived to segregation upto the mid 1900’s we shed a few more tears when Obama will take up the podium and deliver his State of the Union. A black defining the path the US will take, now that will be epic!

Obama is a good communicator, he speeches have that feel good factor, the punch lines, but whether he will surpass Bill Clinton as the best orator remains to be seen. After the euphoria, Barrack inherits the presidency at the worst possible time, the war in the middle east, the relations with Iran-N Korea are ‘bad’. Russians are trying to asserts themselves more coupled with the fact that the US dominance on the geo-political world is on the decline. And ofcourse, the economy is, well, dead!

2008 may have been his year… the next four are what will define him…