Obama's “audacity of hope”
Photo: AFP
Doris Lessing, the 89 year old English novelist who won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature, fears that Barack Obama will be assassinated if he is elected as the next US President because of his race. The remarks seemed brazen and mysterious coming from an otherwise respectable, graceful and humble English woman who seems to have lost sight of the fact that the United States gained its independence from her country over 200 years ago and now has its own culture and history. At best, they confused me given Ms. Lessing was once banned from South Africa for taking a stand against its former racist regimes. Having lived in Britain for over a decade nearly as much time in the US, I am reluctant to endorse the views of Ms. Lessing. My first encounter with America's backwardness with race and gender equality issues came upon my arrival here in the form of a radio soap ad in Florida in the late nineties: "Ladies, if you buy this washing powder, your husbands will be very proud of you!" - or words to that effect. Being a recent British transplant at the time, I was simply shocked at that sort of derogatory attitude towards women; it would simply not have been tolerated in Britain and the ad would have been pulled following inevitable complaints by the listeners. Thus, it came as little surprise to me when Florida became the offending state in 2000 to ensure the dubious victory of George Walker Bush, possibly the worst US President in living memory. Yet, the US has more high profile public figures who are black than Britain: Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice are just two examples. The only black Member of Parliament in Britain was called a "monkey" during the elections in the 90's that saw the meteoric rise of Tony Blair - who unfortunately turned out to be one of the biggest liars. Britain has had its fair share of racist killings and police brutality under the leadership of that man. I would rather like Ms. Lessing focused on the mysterious death of Dr. David Kelly, the British scientist soon after colliding with Mr. Blair's version of "truth" regarding WMDs in pre-invasion Iraq than purporting to be a soothsayer on the possible assassination of a black president in the US in 2009. The United States, having all but lost its credibility and most of its friends in the international community due to its recent adventures in Iraq, Afghanistan human rights abuses, infamous Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, really does need a change of policy at both home and abroad. The US economy is on the verge of a recession and the financial bleeding from the war in Iraq is hurting the morale of what was once a great nation. The lies and greed have led to the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage lending markets and could soon result in many impoverished people losing their homes. In short, the rich-poor divide in the US is set to get bigger. A nation that is divided in that way is a weak nation - just like a sports team where the players do not have a uniform level of skills. One of its greatest assets was the overwhelmingly large middle class US population; battering that core class with its short term policies for the benefits of a few will destroy the cohesiveness necessary for any strong nation. Even a few years ago, I would have been enthused to see a woman president in the White House given my rude awakening to offensive attitude towards women in southern US. My arrival to this country in the late 90's coincided with Mrs. Clinton's campaigns in upstate New York to become a Senator and I had the greatest respect for her intellect. Yet, when I asked myself recently - had I had the choice - if I would vote for Hillary Clinton had she been a man, the answer was a resounding "no!” Voting for someone because of their race or gender is as bad as discriminating against them if one believes that a person is defined by higher and deeper values developed over time than simply their skin colour or sex. Given that the US really does need a major change, can Clinton, who is very much the part of the old school political establishment, give it a new direction? The US needs to be retrospective, instead of spending another decade bullying and lecturing the rest of the world about what they must do. As for the Republican front runners, there's McCain - an old man still busking in the dubious glories of his Vietnam experience even as US soldiers and millions of innocent Iraqis continue to die in the Middle East - and there's the religious right-winger Huckabee who believes in "miracles". To vote once for Bush junior was excusable - it was a machine read error in Florida; to vote for him twice was shameful but to give the Republicans a third term in office would simply be ridiculous! Therefore, Barack Obama really is the only hope for the US which needs to come at peace with itself, reconcile and find a new - more graceful role - in an ever changing world.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments