Barack Obama is now the president-elect of the United States after running a long and gruel race, firstly by defeating Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries and then defeating John McCain in the presidential elections.

That this presidential race was historically monumental cannot be questioned. The United States would have either voted for its first black president or its first woman vice-president. This presidential race has received unprecedented public attention not just among the American public but also from the rest of the world.

That most Malaysians were supporting Obama is not surprising. But given Obama’s diverse and colourful background, it is also not surprising that different Malaysians were supporting Obama for different reasons.

It is also very probable that many Malaysians select aspects of Obama’s story which they can relate with and ‘tune out’ those aspects which they might not necessarily agree with. This prompts the question, on my part at least, of what lessons from Obama’s candidacy and campaign Malaysians have selectively learnt from and what this may mean for politics in our country moving forward.