If anyone deserves to get into parliament, it's Su'a William Sio, one who has worked tirelessly on the ground floor of the Manukau community to raise the awareness at a local and national level of the issues impacting not only for Pacific peoples but across the ethnic specific spectrum. Su'a will be a great sounding board for promised changes that National may not deliver upon to the community and I suspect a rather seasoned political animal in the "house". Pacific peoples are fortunate to have a Pacific representative not only in government but across the benches to keep the government of the day accountable. All the best to Su'a Wiliam Sio over the next three years as he battles to keep the current government honest.
I have said it before that Peseta Sam Lotu - I'iga would win the previously Labour held seat of Maungakiekie - and he is on his way to doing so (well as at 10:42pm). Peseta Sam Lotu - I'iga is the man to watch in the future. I have no doubt that he will one day become the 1st Pasifika Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand. Keep watching this man - over the next few years as he gains experience in the political realm.
Congratulations once again to Peseta Sam Lotu I'iga.
I have waited for this victory speech for almost five years. What else is there to say about President Obama other than that he is 'the man' for such a time as this. I love the closing remarks of his victory speech " May God bless you, May God bless America."
This Saturday New Zealand will also vote in a new Prime Minister and I have no doubt that it will be John Key. The polls indicate that New Zealand is also searching for political and spiritual change. No one is really interested in placing faith in trusted historical leadership - the public are searching for new ideas, new personalities and in short something different. I predict that New Zealand will awake on Sunday morning with John Key on the front page of every newspaper as the new Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand. And in that respect I hope that like President Barack Obama - John Key will look to God to bless this nation as well.
Obama's dance moves on the Ellen Degeneres TV 'talk back' show, has him perfectly poised to waltz into the White House this week. What an exciting year 2008 has been not only for USA but also the rest of the world. While it is true that I am writing as if Obama has already won the USA Presidential race, to deny that he won't is to ignore many of the political polls that place Obama in front of McCain.
If the BBC Doha debates (1 November 2008) are anything to go by, 87% rejected the motion that the Middle East would be better off with McCain at the presidential helm. Obama is perceived as one who will attempt to engage in multi-lateral discussions to sustain peaceful relationships. Whether he has the ability to do so is unknown but there is a general sense that Obama has the ability to rise to any difficult situation. Perhaps it is his sharp intellect, his likeable personality, his exceptional oratory and the fact that he is of a mixed ethnic origin that engenders us to trust him. Obama is different in every respect and the American public have had sufficient time now to absorb a new level of political consciousness that accepts a "black" president as a natural evolving process of the American politics. In that sense - Obama's slogan for "CHANGE" was not simply an attempt to gain victory over the Republican's but a slow and carefully calculated process to change the minds, values and attitudes of the American nation that a Black man could enter the White House.
The negative global economic climate, difficult international relations, the nuclear arms race in Northern Korea and Tehran's Nuclear programme contribute to a general global perception that Obama is a man for this time, where "CHANGE" is essential in the rules around international relations. This week will in Obama's words - "be the defining moment" for America when he becomes the 1st Black President of USA, President Barack Obama sounds normal to me.
