Obama Offers Hope Puerto Rican Style, But Can He Deliver?
President-elect Barack Obama has already made history by being nominated, then elected to the United State's highest office. Although Puerto Rico caucused for Hillary Clinton, his message and his story still resonate with our proud, historic people. Top it off with the fact that Mrs. Clinton appears headed for Secretary of State appointment, and the portrait of hope looks complete, but how do Puerto Ricans feel about it?
Many Puerto Ricans contributed to the Obama/Biden win by voting for him stateside, participating in volunteer activities, and donating money to the campaign. The result has been a victory for hope and change, but with everything that has been promised, how can we possibly expect to get out of it what we want?
Some feel the answer is good old fashioned Puerto Rican forward thinking.
Puerto Rico has the only subway system in the Caribbean. Puerto Rico has the best highway system in the Caribbean. Even though unemployment is higher than elsewhere in the US, and the economic meltdown has hit us as hard as anywhere, Puerto Rico has the highest wages and best standard of living and health care in the Caribbean.
That is, assuming you don't buy the propaganda out of Cuba. Knowing Cubans myself, I don't believe everything Castro says, but I know there are some who are so eager to see greener grass on the other side of the fence they just can't help it.
Puerto Rico has always had hard-studying, hard-working, family-focused individuals, and in that regard, president-elect Barack Obama is one of us. He wasn't born in to privilege, but he made lemonade from his lemons, and all he had to do was ask for help.
He asked for help to build his campaign and win the election, and now he's asking for our help to fix the economy, the nation, and improve the world. It's such a huge promise no man could ever do it alone, but he doesn't pretend he can. Instead, he's once again reaching out to us and asking for our help.
You can find out about his grand plans and how you can get involved by visiting his official new site www.Change.gov. Whether you're an advocate for independence, statehood or just getting a vote in congress while staying the course, this man is in charge, and for the first time in a very, very long time, he's a president that actually wants to hear from you, not just take your taxes.
