Text of Obama's Victory Speech

Published below is the text of the US 44th President-elect- Barack Obama's speech. Please make your reactions in the comment box below.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

Read the rest here.  And share your reactions to Obama's speech.

America Votes

It is the fourth of November, the Tuesday after the first Monday of November. America votes today, and the world watches.

We ran a similar programme when Kenya voted at the end of last year, and we can only hope the Americans enjoy a post-election period more peaceful than ours.

Click here to share your US election stories, wherever you might be. Also, join us later in the day in a livechat as results begin to trickle in.

Write to us editor@kenyaimagine.com.

It is a privilege not a right to vote in the US election

The fact of the matter is that it is not a  US Constitutional "right to vote."

Let me say that again. According to the US Constitution, You Do Not Have a Right to Vote!!

Judicial bodies have affirmed this.

Sep. 21, 2006 | Last week, a Missouri judge reminded the state Legislature that citizens of the state have a right to vote. And because it is a right, not a privilege granted by the powerful, Missourians can cast their ballots this November without having to meet identification requirements that seemed designed to make it harder for certain people -- the poor, the elderly, minorities and women -- to exercise that right.

A changing morality: Obama and Kenya

The Kenyan papers are filled with reports on the US election; the country is in a proper frenzy. The Prime Minister has declared that we do not expect Obama to win, we know he will. It is all very exciting. I had a meeting down for Wednesday, but it was cancelled last night as the other party was unsure how safe town would be on that day, the day after the US election. Things have come to that.

Want more?

Two Cents, Two Days to Go

Two days to go. I can just imagine the furor that will be in the office come Tuesday/Wednesday. Who is to say how this race will pan out? I can only surmise.

As my fellow history buffs would agree, one would need to look at the chronicles of this country to understand what is taking place this day and age. To quote Shakespeare (and then Biden) "What's past is prologue". In other words, history is an eye into the future.

Want more?

I'm not feeling you barack

As others plot to build airports and rename secondary schools in your honour (brief clip I saw of Senator Obama high school in Kogelo), i will be looking Tuesday to ignore the Obama lovefest, when as I hope he wins.

There was this friend in high School who derided what he called Utu Umati , or following the crowd. I never was one for utu umati and this influences me in a direction far more critical of Obama than most.

A few gripes

American Stories, American Solutions (video)

There are only five days left until Americans pick their new president. Over 16.5 million voters have already cast early ballots all across the US. According to a Washington Post survey 59% of these votes are in favor of Senator Barack Obama.

Watch the video here.

Kenya: Exploring Obama's Religious Roots

On a recent trip to Kenya, I sat down with Said Obama, Sen. Barack Obama's uncle, and asked him about his family and religion.

"We were born into a Muslim family in a predominantly Christian area," Said Obama said. "We went to Christian schools and studied Christian religious education. Whenever we were short of something we were sent into Christian homes (to borrow) and whenever they were short of something they were sent into our home. Religion never became an issue."

Want more?

What is America to me? Thoughts on the US Presidential elections

Countee Cullen, a black American poet, once asked: What is Africa to me?

With the US elections just days away, and Africans holding their breath, fingers mostly crossed for Senator Barack Obama, I find I have to reverse the question and ask: What is America to me?

Why should the outcome of the US presidential elections matter to Africa?

What my heart feels and what my mind knows are at loggerheads. My heart, nationalistic and black, beats with the ups and downs of the Obama campaign. But my mind, at times cynical but always searching for the bottom line of things, knows an Empire is not run on good will, that there are no gentle giants and that history is not erased overnight.

Want more?

Losing it, first maurin dodd nytempus in latin, and then the weird prison video of McCain

Whatever. I liked this, do you? How far can you get before capitus explodit, or whatever. Pity we haven't Latin or even Arabic to occupy our mostly idle Kenyan pupils, eh? They are knitting and making stool stools instead.

Click on the title to read more.

Liveblog: US Presidential Debate |Town Hall

The second US presidential debate is bound to be another interesting moment on the race to the White House. While the first debate was on foreign policy, and the third will be on the country's failing economy, this debate will have a town hall meeting style.
Obama leads [...]

Join us for a live-chat on the 2nd US presidential debate.

pick your ride

Pigs with pretty lips and pitbulls. Metaphors are good for political campaigns. Unkind perhaps, so much fairer to use a single object to describe everyone, like a train say.

More.

Liveblog: US VP Debate

The anticipated US vp debate will be on in about 8hrs (or less depending on when you read this). Anyway, kenyaImagine's Nekessa Opoti will be running a liveblog during the debate. You can participate in the liveblog by sending in live-comments during the debate, and interact with other readers.

Set a reminder for the debate here!

See you then! This should be fun!

Protests at the RNC in St. Paul (slideshow)

Nekessa Opoti:
What began as peaceful protests in St. Paul, Minnesota today ended in the arrests of close to 150 people.

Many of the protesters were anti-war activists. Some had been preparing for at least a year to protest the Republican National Convention (RNC). Others just showed up today. At least 10,000 people, from Minnesota and the rest of the US, showed up on the streets of downtown St. Paul.

Read more here.

What the furore was all about; the Wright stuff

Published here is the full sermon from the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, it is the speech that had the United States in a collective conniption last week and compelled Senator Obama to that apologetic speech. Perhaps we can make it our thought for Easter?

A More Perfect Union

American presidential candidate Senator Barrack Obama takes on the challenge of the Pastor Jeremiah Wright association to addresse race in America and its impact on his candidacy. Published here is his speech.

On my Faith and my Church

American political commentary is abuzz with the fallout from revelations that Barack Obama's pastor and 'spiritual mentor' holds some particularly strong views on race and politics. Published here is Senator Obama's response to the furore.

Discuss.

Why Obama must win the nomination

I am not one for hype. I do not even have a Facebook account, so you know how quickly I wrote off Barrack Obama's chances of winning the American Presidency. It did not help either that he was chummy with Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga. I was not the only one who'd written him off it seems. Many Kenyans, even we tribal people, who will vote anyone we share the slightest 'blood' bond with, had already given up on him. We were immensely proud, a brave effort, he would make a good showing, but it would be best if he gave up and accepted that America was not ready for a black President. Maybe try for number two while he learned the ropes, made a few friends and got some experience. Over in the United States, the black people came out in large numbers, speaking against him, he was not black enough, his blackness was foreign, Kenyan, not African-American and he knew nothing of the stigma of slavery or of segregation.

Read more from Stephen Wanyama here.

Obama wins three more state primaries

"We have now won East and West, North and South, and across the heartland of the US, " Illinois Senator Obama said in a speech Tuesday evening following big wins in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia.

Read more here.

Obama woos 20,000 Minnesotans

The race for the Democratic Party's ticket at the next American presidential elections is assured a place in history. In this normally conservative country, there will for a first time be either a woman or an African-American on the party ticket.

Illinois Senator Barrack Obama is that African-American, and he has taken the country by storm, forming a coalition for change that cuts right across America's social fabric. This weekend, ahead of the Super Tuesday block of caucuses and primaries the Senator was campaigning in Minnesotta where a large community of Kenyans abroad live. He was received with rapturous applause (not in the least by the Kenyan contingent) and with such passionate adulation that it was not always clear who was the spectacle the tall thin man who could soon become the most powerful man in the world or his supporters, crying, cheering and worshipping in his presence.

Read more here.