Lat and Obama

..Lat & Easy: US Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama in Malaysia?

In previous blog entry, I missed out another one of the most important feature in the NST; Lat's cartoons. Picture above is one of Lat's weekly cartoon in the NST. It features Democrat presidential candidate, Barack Obama, paying a visit to Malaysia (?)

Unlike Lat's other caricatures, this one really took me a while to understand the underlying message behind it. It looks pretty straight forward - Obama entering a Malaysian house with all his supporters holding banners and placards standing outside the door, the Atuk turning on the tv news, one Indian lady shouting, "Eh, Obama..!" and the surprise face from the rest of the people in the house. One character slightly missing here is the Secret Service agent on the far right, wearing sun glasses. Whatever it means, one thing's for sure, it shows that Obama's popularity has reached our shores. He is definitely the more popular candidate compare to McCain and clearly has the edge over McCain should the election be held worldwide. According to TheWorld.org, Europe has clearly given their 'vote' to Obama. The French loves him. The 'Obamamania' craze has spread throughout Britain.

TheWorld.org: Europe votes Obama
"The excitement generated by the American primaries has echoed around the world. It’s especially strong in Europe, where it has grabbed public attention like no other American campaign I can recall since the days of John F. Kennedy. Europeans are not only fascinated by this race for the White House; they wish they could vote in it."

While Obama seems to be very popular outside America, in Europe, Africa and throughout the world, the presidential race could be too close to call. One of my lecturers once told me that that the "White Supremacy" mind among the majority citizens in America is still strong. This could probably be one the elements that could prevent Obama from being the first black sitting in the White House. Only time can tell. Let's hope the Americans are smart enough this time 'round by not electing another George Bush clone, in John McCain.