Today, the world is witnessing history, the birth of a new era.
This positive force and message of ‘Hope’ is coming from the United States of America, that land of big dreams and sometimes painful paradoxes. There, Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan (black) immigrant father and Caucasian (white) American mother, is being inaugurated as the 44th president. He becomes the first African-American to sit in the White House as president of America.
Today also marks a new dawn in which men perceive of and respond to impulses more and more from conscience and good judgement rather than with bias and bigotry. A dawn in which hopefully, the colour of a man’s skin will be of no more significance than the colour of his eyes and one in which the basic human rights show the prospect of being increasingly guaranteed to all without regard to race.
By this collective will of the people of the many races that make up the USA, the nation which has shown leadership in many spheres, including, science, commerce, enterprise and courage, is displaying moral leadership. The history of the African experience in America has been primarily one of slavery, segregation and injustice in the midst of the avowed doctrines that All men are born equal and In God we trust.
From this day, in America, it seems that truly, all men are and will be born equal. More importantly, America is sending a message by example to the rest of the world that everywhere, all men ought to be born equal, irrespective of race or creed. It is also sending a message to all of mankind that all men (and women) should dare to hope and to dream. This said, what are we to expect from Obama?
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As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Barack Obama had reportedly fought to focus America’s attention on the challenges facing Africa “stopping the genocide in Darfur, passing legislation to promote stability in the Congo and to bring a war criminal to justice in Liberia, mobilising international pressure for a just government in Zimbabwe, fighting corruption in Kenya, demanding honesty on HIV/AIDS in South Africa, developing a coherent strategy for stabilising Somalia, and travelling across the continent raising awareness for these critical issues. He has also increased America’s focus on the long -term challenges of education, poverty reduction, disease, strengthening democratic institutions and spurring sustainable economic development in Africa.
Obama has indicated that as president, he will take immediate steps to end the genocide in Darfur by increasing pressure on the Sudanese government to halt the killing and stop impeding the deployment of a robust international force. He has also pledged to hold the government in Khartoum accountable for abiding by its commitments under the Comprehensive Peace Accord that ended the 30 year conflict between the north and south.
Obama has likewise indicated he will double the annual investment in foreign assistance from $25 billion in 2008 to $50 billion by the end of his first term and make the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015, America’s goals. He will fully fund debt cancellation for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries in order to provide sustainable debt relief and invest at least $50 billion by 2013 for the global fight against HIV/AIDS. There may be modifications to these commitments on account of the global economic crunch and for Obama, as for us all, charity will obviously begin at home.
In his domestic policy, Barack Obama will meet with some obvious constaints. While former President George W. Bush inherited a healthy budgdet surplus at the start of his first term in 2001, Obama is inheriting a budget deficit which runs as high as $1 trillion.
The challenges before him are enomous. The world is currently passing through a debilitating financial crisis, a crisis that has led to the collapse of many companies and corporations. All across the world, from Africa to Asia, from the Americas to Europe, the crisis is global. Analysts hold the view that the United States holds the key to end this global crisis. But if the US economy does not recover, it will be difficult for her to galvanise other countries to recover from the crisis.
There is also the challenge of the Middle East, where Israel is embroiled in a duel with Hamas in Gaza. The humanitarian crisis that has resulted from the bombing of Hamas militants is massive. The task before Obama is to bring both sides to the table so that the war can end. It will be important for him to find a lasting solution to the crisis in the Middle East. Peace in the Middle East, to a large extent, holds key to world peace.
Some political analysts say that Barack Obama promised too much to too many at home and that even in prosperous times he would have a tough time living up to his promises. As expected, his immediate focus would be on the economy, and he would have to concentrate on a few core things such as his middle class tax cut plan and healthcare reforms.
It is anticipated that Obama will come under a lot of tugging, from the democrats who had waited a long time to get one of their own in the White House. He is expected to come under pressure from the unions for new labour rules, from lawyers who want liability laws , as well as from environmental groups and others.
There is aggreement that the new president has surrounded himself with a good cabinet and that he is well liked at home and abroad. For his part, Barack Obama has said that the journey ahead would be tough and that the battle will not be fought by himself alone but by himself and the American people. At home and abroad, for the Obama presidency, the times promise to be tough, even perilous. But from his journey to the presidency, we have seen that HOPE can be audacious and victorious.
