Obama's Date With History

On February 10, 2007 when Barack Obama announced his candidature for the United States Presidency in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois, only a few believed the dream was realisable. The cynicism was not because those who viewed Obama‘s ambition as too tall doubted his intellect. Many had thought a man that is neither white nor even ”African-American enough” could never make it to the White House.

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Barack Obama

But as the campaign thickened, many doubting Thomases began to have change of hearts as sterling qualities of the Harvard-trained lawyer began to manifest. Even at that, Obama needed to face an insurmountable obstacle in Senator Hillary Clinton, a former US First Lady, many considered to be more experienced than Obama, especially on foreign policy. This was considered to be extremely important at a time when the image of the US had been badly battered abroad as a result of the egregious foreign policy of George Bush‘s administration.

Like the proverbial cat with nine lives, Obama survived the Clinton dynasty’s challenge. On June 3, 2008, he had secured enough delegates to secure the nomination of the Democratic Party after the Montana and South Dakota primaries. A feat already achieved by his opponent and Republicans‘ John McCain since March 4.

There was fear that the Democrats would go into the more important November 4 election as a divided house especially as Hillary Clinton did not concede defeat immediately. But she eventually conceded defeat on June 7 and urged her supporters to shift their allegiance to the man of the moment, Obama.

After a dinner on June 23, Obama encouraged his fundraisers to provide a lifeline for Clinton‘s debt-ridden campaign. This paved the way for Obama/Clinton first post-primary campaign in New Hampshire on June 27.

Knowing the importance of establishing a good relationship with the outside world, Obama took his campaign beyond the shores of America. In July, he travelled to Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, the West Bank, Israel, Germany, France and Great Britain. During his sojourn abroad, he met with different world leaders, including President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Iraqi‘s Nouri al-Maliki, King Abdullahi II of Jordan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and a host of others.

However, Obama‘s visit to Germany was remarkable as about 200,000 people went to see him in Berlin. This, of course, became a campaign tool in the hands of McCain who accused him of already behaving like a President and being more popular abroad than at home.

But Obama proved that he was not only popular abroad but more popular among the American electorate when he convincingly won the election on November 4. This victory further gave credence to America as the country with the brightest hope for democracy and a land of possibilities.

In his acceptance speech, Obama reinforced this belief when he said, ”If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is still alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

As Obama mounts the podium to become the 44th US President and the first African-American to achieve this feat, he carried with him enormous responsibilities, not only for the Americans but also for the peoples of the world in view of the leadership position of the US in world affairs.

So, the Obama‘s administration right from its threshold, is being viewed with high hopes and expectations. And analysts have continued to debate on how President Obama will structure its priorities, especially in the first 100 days, which will shape the direction his administration will head to in its four-year sojourn.

The President-elect had already had a lunch date with the outgoing President George Bush, and four former US Presidents to draw from the experiences of the men who once governed the country. The lunch date, Obama‘s idea, which took place on January 8 was the first of its kind since 1981. Past US presidents usually only gather at sombre events such as funerals or historic ceremonies. Asking Buch to invite past presidents to a dinner was not a sign of a weakling but rather a humble recognition of the past to project into the future.

Bush and Obama later met privately for about half an hour in the Oval Office with events in the Gaza Strip and the depressed US economy topping the list of their decision.

The economy will no doubt take the front burner as the top most priority of the Obama‘s administration. He had already visited the Congress over two weeks ago to enlist the support of the Republicans for a massive stimulus package with talk of big tax cuts.

”We are in a very difficult spot and the situation is getting worse,” Obama reportedly told reporters.

Obama had assured Americans that the big economic stimulus bill -- now put at as much as $775bn over two years -- will not be waiting on his desk when he takes office on January 20. Some key Republicans were already moving to his side on his economic recovery plan.

According to Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell, ”I think there will be widespread Republican enthusiasm for having a significant percentage of the package and tax relief. We‘ll be interested to see not only the size of the tax package but how it‘s crafted”.

As Obama proposed during the campaign, workers would get a $500 payroll tax credit and businesses would receive tax breaks to create jobs, part of what the Democrats said could be $300bn in tax cuts.

As part of the economic stimulus package, Obama had promised to create four million jobs to cushion the effects of unprecedented mass job losses, which was 2.6million in 2007, the largest since World War II. With additional 524,000 job loses in December alone, the US unemployment rate is 7.2 per cent. This has heightened fear that the US economy is heading for a long period of recession.

Analysts estimated that the unemployment rate at the end of 2010 would be 1.8 percentage points lower if the plan was enacted.

”It‘s not too late to change course, but only if we take immediate and drastic action, If nothing is done, economists from across the spectrum tell us that this recession could linger for years and the unemployment rate could reach double digits.

”They warn that our nation could lose the competitive edge that has served as a foundation for our strength and standing in the world,” he said in his weekly YouTube address.

Some Democratic senators have expressed the hope that tax cuts will lead to growth and job creation.

In spite of this optimism, Obama on Saturday at Baltimore War Memorial where he addressed several thousands of his supporters and well wishers as part of the build up to his inauguration, warned that the trials America was facing today were severe and the country needed a new declaration of independence in its quest to be out of its abysmal economic recession.

”There is flattering economy. We have two wars and our future is our choice. A better life is in store for those who are willing to work. Let all of us do our parts to rebuild this country. We are a people of common dream and we will be called to show patience,” he said.

In line with his electioneering promise, it is expected that Obama will completely withdraw the US troops from Iraq by the summer of 2010. Analysts have said this would allow Obama to fulfil his other major foreign policy pledge - to increase troop levels in Afghanistan. Military officials said some 20,000-30,000 extra troops could be sent to the country by summer 2009, doubling the existing number of troops there.

International observers had said Obama‘s opposition to the Iraqi war was one of the reasons for his popularity and buoyed his chance during the election as an average American did not see any economic sense in spending $2bn every month in prosecuting the war.

Closing the Guantanamo Bay, the controversial detention camp for terror suspects at the naval base in Cuba is also one of the items on the to-do-list in the early days of the administration as part of its security agenda.

In a recent interview with Time magazine, he said that if his administration had not ”closed down Guantanamo in a responsible way, put a clear end to torture and restored a balance between the demands of our security and our constitution” within two years of taking office, then it would have failed.

But this task is being challenged with where to relocate the suspects. Australia has already turned down the request due to security reason.

Polls suggest that in contrast to his predecessor, Obama is very popular in many countries - a big change, which he is likely to exploit.

Specifically, a poll carried out by WorldPublicOpinio.org, a consortium of research centres around the world, shortly before the election showed that most countries of the world preferred an Obama‘s presidency to McCain‘s.

He has promised to handle Iran with a new approach contrary to the belligerent attitude of the Bush’s administration. This is also in line with his belief that if bringing an American “enemy” to the negotiation table is what is required to bring peace to the world, his administration will not hesitate to do so.

Analysts have said this, coupled with his promise to give a major speech in the Muslim world and a pledge to ”make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a key diplomatic priority from day one”, his international goodwill could be vital to the success of his administration.

It also expected that there will be challenges on labour relation, healthcare reform, Climate Change among other numerous domestic issues. Obama cannot afford to disappoint young and old, rich and poor, Democrats and Republicans and working men and women ”who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to this cause.”

Source : www.punchng.com