Editorial
Hearty congratulations to Obama
Chance for him now to work for a substantive legacy
We felicitate Barack Obama and Joe Biden on their reelection to US Presidency and express our admiration for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan who offered a hard fight to Obama and his team, and also for a gracious concession. The proceedings and the results captivated millions of viewers all over the world to the verve and vitality of a democracy in a truly pluralistic mosaic of a society.
People of Bangladesh like the rest of the world evince keen interest in US Presidential election. But the 2012 presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney drew an extraordinary measure of importance and attention right from the primaries and nominations through the campaigns to continuously updated Gallup polls and the election day.
Two reasons can be cited for the high degree of enthusiasm and interest in the polls: One, the euphoria of dream and promise that an eloquent Obama victory in 2008 had generated for the US people and the rest of the world fell short of realisation. There was a legitimate debate over how much the war-induced economic recession and mess left by Bush inhibited President Obama from moving forward at a pace he was expected to. Or, how far could it be attributed to a non-cooperative House of Representatives or, indeed, Barack Obama's policy shortcomings? All this promised an exciting contest.
Obama is vindicated in his position that he had to first bring the economy out of recession, which he did as some vital statistics pointed to, and then build on the hard-earned successes of the first term. His message largely sank in with the voters. They didn't want to see bucking of the trend nor snapping of the continuity.
The second point of interest was how nail-biting and exciting the poll outcome would be with the media prophesying a fight right down to the wire. In the end, however, popular vote was evenly distributed between the contestants, but electoral votes proved decisive in mandating Obama for the second term overshooting predictions.
To Bangladesh, Barack Obama's victory comes as redemption of an expectation, and, therefore, something of a relief. In foreign policy, far from being hawkish, he prefers moderation, and avoids direct intervention or confrontation. He wrapped up on Iraq and Afghan wars, has been more or less persuasive with Iran on the nuclear question and dealt with China pragmatically.
But Obama was not hands-on in resolving the Palestine-Israeli conflict where he has his job cut out despite Netanyahu's sworn support to Mitt Romney. Similarly, the US equivocation on Syria gave Bashar Al-Assad a wrong signal to continue brutalising his people.
The interesting thing is both the victor and vanquished echoed similar sentiments for engagement and working together in their respective speeches after the election results were announced. Mitt Romney while formally conceding his defeat said: "The nation, as you know, is at a critical point. At a time like this, we can't risk partisan bickering and political posturing. Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work." President Obama, congratulating Mitt Romney for the hard-fought campaign, lauded his contribution to US politics and reciprocated his sentiments to work together to move the country forward.
A word about the mechanics of election, which enriched the quality of the contest to a remarkable level, a point that must not be lost on any democracy. President Obama cheered his supporters with an enlightening message saying that the campaign may at times have been small-minded and silly but that could not detract from the commitment of those who worked and pushed themselves beyond sleepless nights just to reach the message to the voters.
The right to argue and dissent is there not just to be protected but allowed to be exercised with tolerance of each other's viewpoints.
An incumbent in his first term is usually reticent, treading carefully mostly because he has had to take tough decisions which as it happened met with resistance from a Republican dominated House of Representatives. But in the second term, emboldened by popular renewal of trust in him, he can act decisively. This is the term in which the people would expect him to deliver the goods in a full measure. If anything, the first term was literally a test for him, now comes the time for building his legacy and leaving it to rank with that of successful US Presidents.
His call for a generous and compassionate America should find resonance throughout the world.
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