Author: Swapan Dasgupta
Publication: ExpressBuzz.com
Date: November 9, 2008
URL: http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?title=Why%20Obama%20is%20not%20an%20American%20Mayawati&artid=OUR|phbxU9w=&type=
What's in a name, you may well ask. however,
one of the most interesting sidelights of the TV coverage of the US election
results was the difference between how the American and English-language Indian
channels invoked the name of the new President-elect. To CNN, CBS and, for
that matter, BBC, the victorious Democratic candidate was simply Barack Obama,
prefixed with either Senator or President-elect. To the gushing Indian anchors,
particularly those channels that described his victory as a "world renaissance"
and an "end of the dark ages", he was however Barack hussein Obama
- the emphasis being on the middle name.
The temptation to see the domestic election
of another country in terms of personal political inclinations is sometimes
irresistible - even if that involves a massacre of reality. Despite a staggeringly
high registration and turnout of Black voters for Obama on November 4 and
his failure to win a majority of White votes, the US presidential election
was neither about race nor the middle name of the winner. If it had been,
it is doubtful Obama would have won so decisively. In actual fact, one of
the subsidiary themes of the election was that neither race nor a person's
origin should matter in determining suitability for high office. To that extent,
the American electorate lived up to the ideals that shaped the American dream
and for which Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King laid down their lives.
Obama is not an American Mayawati seeking
to turn caste hierarchy upside down. is a mainstream American politician who
ran one of the most brilliant and innovative election campaigns that we have
witnessed anywhere in the world. has merely demonstrated that personal charisma,
backed by relevant ideas and motivated followers, can transcend pre-existing
prejudices.
In purely clinical terms, Obama delivered
a substantial incremental vote of hitherto apathetic Blacks and young voters
to the pre-existing Democratic base. In recent American history, only Ronald
Reagan managed such a major shift in the electoral calculus. And Obama was
helped by the fact that the two pillars of the Reagan consensus - American
strategic hegemony and domestic prosperity - had developed almost irreparable
cracks under President George W Bush. Obama's moment has coincided with a
larger existential crisis gripping America.
The need to locate Obama in the real world
of America rather than some imaginary stratosphere is all the more compelling
because the world, including India, will have to deal with his administration
for the next four, maybe eight, years. Celebrating the fulfilment of Martin
Luther King's "dream" is worthwhile but becoming a bit player in
liberal triumphalism will not address the basic: what does Obama mean for
us? The answers are still unknown. The transition from campaign rhetoric to
a philosophy of governance will take some time and may even be marked by six
months of fine-tuning. Yet it is important to anticipate the trends early,
not least because India has hitched its stars to the US in a strategic partnership
from which there is no early exit clause.
The central theme of Obama's campaign was
"change" and at the very least the new president will have to demonstrate
that his administration is markedly different from that of President Bush.
Crafting a new post-Bretton Woods global economic order is already in the
minds of the entire West, particularly europe, and Obama is certain to devote
attention to getting the US out of a deep recession. The traditional base
of the Democratic Party and American manufacturing industry wants this to
be the priority and Obama will be mindful of their wishes.
Attending to the ailments of western capitalism
is not going to bring the US into any serious conflict with India. There may
be a tussle between outsourcing and creating jobs at home and India will have
to recognise that the boom in the IT sector is well and truly over. Free market
has traditionally been a non-negotiable belief of those who stand to benefit
from it the most. As things standtoday, it makes more sense for America to
qualify its commitment to free trade. This may take the form of non-tariff
barriers such as exacting environmental standards, insisting on a greater
parity of wages and a punitive human rights regime.
The central theme, which will also intrude
into foreign policy, will be the principle that no nation must enjoy absolute
sovereignty. In many ways, Obama's approach is certain to mirror the european
desire for multilateral systems based on rules and pooled sovereignty - all
of which can be packaged as greater commitment to globalisation. Obama has
already proclaimed his desire to draw his own country and other non-signatories
such as India into the CTBT. With control over both the Senate and House of
Representatives, there will be an inclination to use the Indo-US nuclear deal
to arm-twist India into accepting a stringent non-proliferation order.
On the question of terrorism, there will be
a similar temptation to play to his activist gallery, repair America's image
in the Muslim world, be the good guy and address the so-called roots of terrorism.
The suggestion that Bill Clinton may be appointed a special envoy to resolve
the Kashmir problem was not an unintended slip by an uninitiated candidate.
The natural inclination of people like Obama who has spent too much time with
campus radicals is put strife in West Asia, the Balkans, Chechnya, the Congo
and Kashmir on par. Unlike President Bush who wanted India to be given special
accommodation in all matters, Obama will be inclined to apply the same yardstick
to all problem areas. is also likely to get a broad measure of European support
for his initiatives. Unwittingly, he may end up pitting the White world, Russia
apart, against Indian sensibilities.
Of course, it may not come to all this and
the journey of change may yet be diverted to the passage of continuity. Yet,
India can't afford to take chances. We are likely to be faced with a grim
choice of either travelling as anonymous passengers in the Obama-led ship
or insisting that we have our own sense of destiny.
