Obama: US President or World President?
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Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, Pambazuka News, June 5, 2008
Tajudeen walks us through the skepticism that initially greated the Obama candidacy, the pitfalls of the hubristic Clinton campaign and Obama’s strengths but cautions us that Obama will be an American President who happens to be of African origin. He is never going to subordinate America’s interests to ours where they clash in a fundamental way.
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I must confess that I am one of those pundits who did not give Barrack Obama a significant chance of winning the Democratic Party presidential nomination. For most of December as we witnessed the tragic conflicts in Kenya with two good Professors/comrades/Pan Africanists, Horace Campbell and Okello Oculi, I was most scathing about Obama, while Horace did his best (including giving me the two books of Obama) to educate me, with Okello playing partisan moderator.
Much as I tried I could not bring myself to understand what the man really stood for. He was, and still remains, all things to all kinds of people. Maybe that is his strength. But it all seemed like a David and Goliath duel between him and the well-oiled political and financial machine of the presumed front-runner for the Democratic nominations, Hilary Clinton.
Not a few of us thought that Obama was just another protest candidate who would have his few moments in the limelight and then fizzle away as Hilary romped home to certain victory. How wrong we were! Even the Clintons, the power couple, misread Obama’s strengths. They mistook the political hurricane for a storm in a teacup until it was too late. They threw their considerable weight at him but somehow, in a twist of fate, he became more than Bill Clinton and Hilary could manage. Obama is the Teflon candidate reminiscent of the first Clinton campaign. Nothing sticks as the Chicago senator just ran and ran.
Why did we get it wrong? One, we thought Obama was a Black candidate and believed that the USA was not ready for a Black president. Two, even his Blackness was doubted because he did not come from ‘traditional’ African American/ black backgrounds and his CV was too short as both a Black/African icon.
The enigma of Obama is in making his opponents and critics underestimate him while he builds a broad spectrum of popular support that eats away at the support base of his critics. He believed in the small ordinary people and organized them into an electoral movement built on hope.
Obama did not have to be a Black candidate. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have both done that. He did not have to revisit covered grounds hence he became the candidate who happens to be black. There is no way he could have become a serious contender if all he has was his skin colour. The initial ambiguities of many African American elite who were used to putting their faith in ‘the good white liberal’ like the Clintons raised the prospect of a Black candidate without a Black base which the Clintons already took for granted. But the initial disadvantage among the Blacks who thought he was not black enough actually made it possible for him to attract a broader section of White Americans.
Bush has so damaged Americans’ faith in themselves and made America even less loved if not universally hated that Americans consciously or unconsciously expect a messiah to make them feel good about themselves again—and if not instantly loved, at least less hated by the rest of the world.
It is that yearning for the ‘feel good’ aura that has led many to believe that Obama is the man of destiny and the harbinger of ‘Change you can believe in.’ You may not put your finger on it. It may not add up to a grand vision but it is uplifting enough to rouse America. The Clintons misjudged the moment and Hilary has had to fight in such a despicable way that discussing them now leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many former supporters who used to love ‘the lovable rogue’ Bill Clinton.
Though Bill Clinton was a ‘feel good’ president worshipped by many, his wife was not always endearing to many. Indeed Obama is more like Bill than Hilary. If Hilary had not been his opponent, Bill might have been one of the early democrat grandees that would have declared support for Obama. Spousal loyalty (nothing extraordinary considering the pains he has caused Hilary over the years) combined with the power couple’s delusion of themselves as the democrats’ counter to the dubious aristocracy to the Bushes, contributed greatly to their undoing.
In defence of his wife, Mr. Feel-Good became Mr. Sour grapes and a not so skin-deep liberal who thinks he is entitled to Black and poor white working people’s votes as a right and that such loyalty is transferable by osmosis to any Clinton.
Instead of quitting in a dignified way they have fought almost to the bitter end. Those who fight to the finish get finished. Are the Clintons so bitter in defeat that they would actually prefer McCain to Obama?
The next few days will tell. However, now that Obama is the candidate in waiting, attention will shift to whether he can beat McCain come November. Whether he wins or not he has already lifted the ceiling on the ambition of every Black person in America. There is already victory in the symbolic importance of his candidacy. The prospect of his victory, barring assassination (as it happened to Robert Kennedy before being elected or earlier John Kennedy, after being elected) is very real. His victory will see a repackaging of the American dream as a country where anyone can make it.
Initially support for Obama candidacy was most unanimous in Kenya (where many may not vote for a Luo President but are quite convinced that his nephew can be president of the US!), but it is now universally being prayed for all across the continent. If many Africans have their way they will voluntarily become proxy voters come November!
But while I recognize the mix of historical, socio-psychological, emotional and great expectations that Obama’s candidacy has inspired among Americans and also in Africa and in her diasporas, we should have no illusions that Obama will suddenly make America do right by Africa or the rest of the world, for that matter. He is going to be an American President who happens to be of African origin. He is never going to subordinate America’s interests to ours where they clash in a fundamental way but he may package them less arrogantly and may add more honey to the poisoned chalice that any super power dishes out to smaller states—that is unless those states are firm in the defence of their own interests so they can get a better, if not fairer deal.
(Posted on June 12, 2008)
Comments
This is common African thinking: WINNER TAKE ALL.
This is why even in African democratic elections, once the winner is in power, they believe they have a divine right to rule.
…”we should have no illusions that Obama will suddenly make America do right by Africa or the rest of the world, for that matter.”
Most believe he should and will and they’re salivating for a big payoff.
If Obama wins, there will be much rejoicing (at first). However, like issues in the middle east, African politics is a ticking bomb. Even if Obama tries to help Africans, he will fail because of deep seated trial resentments and only garner disdain that he didn’t try hard enough, isn’t ‘African’ enough, a sell-out, a puppet of white supremacy, etc…
Posted by sbuffalonative at 6:37 PM on June 12
“Obama: US President or World President?”
Wrong wording. It should read: “Obama: African President or Black Advocate in General?”
Blacks aren’t concerned with anyone or anything but blacks and black things.
Posted by Ranger at 8:00 PM on June 12
He does a really poor analysis but gets the main point right. I don’t think Obama is going to shovel money at Africa. It would peg him as overly loyal to his discete ethnic group and incite suspicion from voters of other ethnicities (e.g. whites & hispanics). Obama’s already running into difficulty on that front.
The author’s poor analysis on US politics can be forgiven granted that he’s a foreigner though.
His observation that Africans seem to think everything will change for the better for them if Obama is elected. It kind of shows the mindset they have. I think it’s why so many African countries fall victim to despots. Put the strongman from MY tribe in power and everything will be better.
Posted by Ryan Kennedy at 8:54 PM on June 12
Even the front cover of The Economist shows McCain and Obama as two allegedly good Presidential choices; this more than shows that foreigners consider Presidents that kowtow to the Leftwing Internationalists to be in THEIR interests, not Americas!
Posted by at 9:54 PM on June 12
There WILL be rioting, win or loose. On the one it will be plain old rioting, looting and the usual mayhem. On the other it will be jubilant celebratory rioting, looting and the usual mayhem. Women should be off the streets for days if not weeks.
Posted by Skip at 4:44 AM on June 13
Bush has so damaged Americans’ faith in themselves and made America even less loved if not universally hated that Americans consciously or unconsciously expect a messiah to make them feel good about themselves again—and if not instantly loved, at least less hated by the rest of the world.
I couldn’t give a damn less what the world thinks of us, whether we’re “less loved” or “universally hated” (demonstrably untrue, BTW) or whatever. The preoccupation with this and the want of a “messiah” to fix it is the folly of Obama’s base.
we should have no illusions that Obama will suddenly make America do right by Africa or the rest of the world, for that matter.
Which means what, exactly?
He is never going to subordinate America’s interests to ours where they clash in a fundamental way…
Speaks volumes.
Sadly, I think this doofus might be wrong.
Posted by BW Sam at 1:22 PM on June 13
I agree that there will be celebratory rioting if Obama is elected. If we dodge a bullet and he isn’t elected, however, I think the blacks will sullenly chalk it up to whitie keepin’ the black man down again, but won’t riot in the absence of a localized triggering event.
Posted by at 3:57 PM on June 13
I recently read the autobiography of a former soviet spy. He told a story of something that happened in Africa during the cold war.
A Russian agent cultivated a rising young politician who belonged to the cheif’s family of one of the tribe. The young politician agreed to spy on his government for the Russians if he were reimbursed a substantial amount of money. A large sum was agreed upon.
A week later, the soviets woke up to find a mile long line of Africans waiting in front of the embassy.
Seems the African politician had gone home and told all hsi tribe members of the money he was making as a soviet spy. So many members of his tribe trekked out of their jungle camps to the capital to sign up as spies for the Russians.
The Russians tried to explain that they were only paying for important information. The Africans kept arriving for weeks.
Posted by at 5:34 PM on June 13
Irrespective of whether or not Senator Obama wins the Presidency, African - Americans will not be running this country, at least not in the near future.
Perhaps if ANY African - American had EVER demonstrated a capacity to run anything other than a sports team (and the jury is still out on that) there would be more confidence, by the good people here, in Senator Obama.
Show me a school, neighborhood, city, county, state, or country being controlled by blacks that has proven to be successful. As our leader here so often says: “just one, just one”!
In the hot steamy southern city which I inhabit, there is an area which is composed primarily of stately southern styled homes which have been transformed, for good or bad, into various law firms. My firm is consequently in an area which is a combination of residences and offices, with cats, which everyone feeds, having free access, to an ongoing buffet on the back porch of everyone’s office. Cats routinely drop in for breakfast and dinner.
I have noticed that there is often a minority who drops by as well! A baby raccoon routinely dines with the various cats without reservation. A dog, on the other hand, dropping by uninvited, tends to cause great consternation to one and all.
I believe one truism is this: Some minorities are accepted by the majority better than others. And that is due to how the majority views the minority AS A RACE! And in all fairness, no amount of pandering by the press can convince this cat to want to sleep with this dog!
This next election will not be about race it will be about oil!
MoMo
Posted by MoMo at 9:24 AM on June 14
Oh if Obama is elected, I expect troops will be sent to Africa to become embroiled in all sorts of partisian wars.
Posted by Unemployed WASP at 1:57 PM on June 14
For blacks, in Africa or anywhere else, everything is a zero-sum game. Something is acquired by taking it from someone else. In America, it is welfare, money given to blacks, via a shakedown of Whites by taxation. In Africa, it is obtaining something from another tribe, or getting something from graft or corruption if you are in the government (even by third-world standards African governments are notoriously corrupt). Nothing is ever created. There are no positive-sum games with blacks. Existing wealth is just moved around from one hand to another, like a shell-game, no wealth-creation formula exists. This also explains why black countries are so litle involved in commerce and trade. This type of positive-sum activity is alien to them. When was the last time you bought something that was made in say, Gabon?
Posted by at 2:43 PM on June 14
As has been said - African democracy = one man, one vote, one time.
The talk about the “African diasporas” really scares the hell out of me. Where has that ever brought anything but fear and disaster? From Europe to North America to South America to Australia, the world pays and pays for the results of the African diasporas. Whereas the various European diasporas have rarely brought anything but civilization and progress. The racial difference between the two is shocking.
Posted by Victor Gerhard at 4:23 PM on June 14
“Irrespective of whether or not Senator Obama wins the Presidency, African - Americans will not be running this country, at least not in the near future.”
— — — — — —
I agree with you. Obama might be used as convenient window dressing — just as many white puppets have been used as window dressing before him.
But the shadowy powers behind the scenes will still hold the strings.
Blacks will no more be “running” the USA than they were allowed to run the NAACP.
They’ll still be taking orders from the same masters. If they resist, some scandal will suddenly emerge that will get them ousted in the blink of an eye. The media will turn on them, public opinion will be swayed, their political and financial backing will be cut off, and they’ll become political has-beens overnight.
A lot of the inhabitants of the White House have been dummies — but not THAT dumb. They know where their bread is buttered.
Posted by browser at 6:29 PM on June 14