Obama and future of US
'Change has come to America', were the words of the first ever African-American President-elect of USA, Barack Obama on the election night after his victory. When Obama was elected as President many people around the globe, in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America, celebrated his victory. The reason-- they were hopeful to see a change in America's policy after an eight year-long rule by the warmonger Bush administration. As time for Obama to take charge of his office draws nearer, some people have become sceptical about seeing real change and have valid reasons to be so. Yet, I will tell more of this later. Before that, let us take a look at some words of Obama before the election.
The then Illinois Senator Barack Obama had been an early opponent of Bush administration's policies on Iraq. He sounded a lot different from George Bush, John McCain or even Hillary Clinton. He had opposed the invasion of Iraq since the very beginning and during his presidential campaign he stood his ground and promised to pull US troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011. Moreover, he sounded much different from George Bush when he said he would try to negotiate with countries like Iran. In a speech given in Berlin in July 2008, he said, “If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.” So many people in the world expected him to be a bit less of a warmonger than George Bush. He also said in Berlin, “This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons”. It was surprising and encouraging to hear such words from the Presidential candidate of the country which was the first and only one to drop nuclear bombs on a human population (in Hiroshima and Nagasaki). However, despite such nice words from Obama, concerns are rising over the appointment by Obama of his cabinet.
Hillary Clinton has been appointed as the next US Secretary of State. The former first lady, against whom Obama fought long and hard during the battle for Democrat nomination, is going to work in his team and playing a key role in America's foreign policy. Hillary Clinton had been a supporter of the invasion of Iraq although she supports the idea of withdrawing troops out of Iraq. She had differed with Obama on many policies during the presidential campaign. When Obama said he would negotiate with Iran, she called his approach 'naïve'. Later on, though, she had endorsed Obama and campaigned for him. It is yet to be seen how these two former rivals work together on foreign policy issues.
It is not only Hillary-- Obama's team is full of faces that have supported the Iraq War. Joe Biden, the vice-president elect, was a supporter of Bush's invasion of Iraq. Moreover, Barack Obama has chosen to keep Robert Gates, Bush's Secretary of Defense, in charge of the Pentagon and appointed retired general Jim Jones, who had supported John McCain during the campaign, as his National Security Advisor. Both of these two men, Gates and Jones, have opposed Obama's policy to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops form Iraqi soil. Then there are many faces from Bill Clinton's era. Amongst them, Rahm Emanuel, Obama's new chief of staff; Susan Rice, who will be acting as UN ambassador; Lawrence Summers, Obama's top economic advisor and Eric Holder, attorney general designate are some of the notable names. Some people have remarked that team Obama will be 'old wine in a new bottle'.
Disappointment is likely to prevail regarding US foreign policy in many countries even during Obama's presidency. Palestinians in the Middle East may continue to see double-standard US policies for another 4 years and the hope for peace still remains bleak in the region. At the time when the Presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain was going on, renowned British journalist Robert Fisk said in a TV interview with the Doha-based news channel Al-Jazeera that there was no possibility of seeing a change in US foreign policy in the region of Middle East. He said Obama or McCain would not make a big difference in the conditions that exist now in the region.
The Guantanamo Bay Prison, a symbol of human rights violation by the US military, is to be closed by the Obama administration. A nice initiative, I would say. So despite all my pessimism about change from the Obama administration, at least for this initiative I would say, “Thank You, Obama, and Good Luck!”
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