life as a cat

圖片來源：guanabee.com; originally designed by Tor Myhren, Chief Creative Officer for Grey Advertising in New York

2008年11月4日，美國誕生了第一位 black President - Barack Obama.

不論他是否贏在他的 color (膚色)，他的確成功的傳遞了 "change" 這個 message，讓在經過一波又一波的 hardship (911, War on Terror, 金融海嘯...) 的 Americans 願意嘗試作一個這麼大的改變。

Obama's victory is historic in any respect.  While I congratulate him for his win, I also wish to commend on Sen. McCain's conceding speech (敗選感言).  It is indeed a remarkable and very moving one.

Transcript and video can be found here on CNN

其中我最喜歡的是以下這幾段：

"Sen. Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain.

These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.

I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that."

"Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone, and I thank the people of Arizona for it.

Tonight -- tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Sen. Obama -- whether they supported me or Sen. Obama.

I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here."

感動的同時，也很感慨，為什麼台灣的政黨競選人大都無法大度的恭喜對方，總是在開票後大喊彼此做票、買票，又鬧一些什麼票匭被毀、遺失的便宜戲碼。而台灣整體的政治生態都有問題，敗選的人好像被逼的非得成為喪家之犬不可，甚至會撂下狠話、退出政壇、搞消失。試問，這種賭氣的作法能夠為你的國家帶來什麼益處？如果今天有50%以上的人支持另一方，那至少你也還有小於或是接近50%的其他人支持你。那你是不是更應該利用你這樣的號召力來一起幫這個「國家」做點事，而不是只為了你的「政黨」而已。

除了候選人自己的心態以外，政黨的心態也有問題，輸了好像就該那個人承擔，越早跟敗選的人撇清關係越好。這是什麼怪現象？

I don't even need to like America to respect some of the values that they hold true - such as the fact that they do sincerely believe that they are "one nation" and "one people".

儘管 McCain 敗選了，就像他最後一段所說的話，他祝福在今天之前是他的對手、但今日之後即是他的總統的 Obama. 這不才應該是一個國家裡頭所有人所共同認知的價值嗎？

美國所要面對的 challenge 不比我們少，尤其在種族及「顏色」這種根深蒂固的 bias 及歧視之下。如果我們能認清我們都是同文同種這個不爭的事實，一同在這塊土地上扎根、耕耘、成長的「伙伴」，那又何來本省人、外省人的省籍之分？

希望美麗寶島的內鬥和排外能有停止的一天。