Historic

The United States of America have a new president, a black man, and many people are calling this a historic event. “If this can be achieved, anything is possible”, is an oft heard quote from Americans during the past 24 hours.

Well, if that’s true, we can look forward to future elections being won by:

• a woman

• an unmarried person

• an atheist

• a Muslim

• a homosexual

• a pacifist

For the sake of your health, don’t hold your breath.

I belong to a seemingly very small minority of world denizens who see little significance in the fact that Obama is a black man. I find the colour of his skin utterly irrelevant.

In fact, I find any detail you care to mention about the man himself irrelevant, except for his intelligence. One is, after all, electing an office more than the individual himself. If Obama dies whilst in office, another party member will take over the reins and enact the same policies, so it makes sense to look only at the party politics themselves. I find that many, if not most, Americans lose sight of this and are distracted by the individual politicians, their personality, charisma and manner.

Looking just at the politics, then, I see little reason for hope in Obama’s foreign policy. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Under Obama, the US will still not be subordinate to the UN. Unilateral force will continue to be applied overseas, if deemed appropriate by the US.

There’s virtually no chance of the US joining the International Criminal Court, either, so there’s no chance of holding the country’s leaders internationally accountable for their crimes abroad.

Military aid to Israel will continue under Obama, which amounts to an implicit approval of Israel’s continuing acts of aggression, occupation and oppression.

The war in Afghanistan will be stepped up, costing untold numbers of lives in that country. Obama sees Afghanistan as the prime front against terrorism, but fails to understand that much of that same terrorism has its origin in brutal US foreign policy over the last 50 years. When others, such as the very vocal Jeremiah Wright, point this out, they are decried and denounced for statements that are “offensive to every American”. The truth hurts.

We can hope, at least, that Obama will do some good within his own country. Perhaps under Obama, the standard of education and health care for Americans will improve. Anything that can be done to raise the general level of awareness in America that the country is not alone in the world and cannot endlessly continue to use the rest of the world as its own private, vast resource pool without incurring the wrath of many, has to be a good thing.

The wake-up call of 9/11 was a painful opportunity for some much needed introspection, but that call was not heeded. Obama doesn’t understand (or can’t politically be seen to acknowledge) that most anti-American terrorism is born of a desire for retribution, not blind hatred. Better education and presumed consequent increased global awareness amongst the voting populace of America are perhaps the only hope for a more peaceful world, even if they take years to yield any observable fruit.