Tuesday, 13 May 2008

Obama: Change the Country, Change the World

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
12 May 2008

Khmer audio aired May 10 (3.86MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired May 10 (3.86MB) - Listen (MP3)

Illinois senator Barack Obama wants to change the world. But first he wants to change the country. And to do that, he wants to become the first African-American president in the White House.

“We will win this nomination,” he told supporters recently. “You and I together will change this country, and we will change the world.”

Cambodian voters in America and politicians in Cambodia are watching to see what will happen.

Both Obama and New York senator Hillary Clinton have a chance at the presidency “because of the crisis in the US that President [George W.] Bush seriously generated,” said Chanly Kuch, a Cambodian voter who lives in Maryland.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy called Obama a new man with modern ideas. American voters do not have racial discrimination, he said.

Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yiep said Cambodia was watching the election closely.

Obama could prove popular because of his centrist approach, said Koul Panha, executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, in Cambodia.

“I think it’s good to focus closely and pay attention to what candidates raise and how to solve the issues, [and] the capacity, the ideals of the candidate, rather than focusing on where a person is from,” he said, adding that Obama was “brave.”

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