Amidst great fanfare, in a closely contested election, Barack Obama has been elected president of the United States of America. The world agrees that he is the better choice than Mitt Romney. On our part, being citizens of the global village, it is not out of way to give vent to our fears and hopes on this occasion.
It has been noted that minorities, women, young Americans both men and women, and poor Black Americans have overwhelmingly supported Obama. About 62 per cent better educated and better placed urban population was behind him. It is a challenge for the re-elected president to come up to the hopes and aspirations of the majority of Americans. His future journey seems to be a bit tough as he has to solve the challenging economic problems of his country. He is also faced with the issue of an honourable withdrawal from Afghanistan and tackling the problem of a rising China. He may be a bit more powerful now in dealing with Israel, which has been consistently trampling upon the rights of Palestinians and in spite of adverse world opinion refusing to give up its policy of expanding settlements in occupied Palestine territories. There is a fear that his policies would be reflective of the selfish American interests at the cost of poor nations.
It was during his first tenure that his assassination drones pounded militants as well as innocent citizens in tribal areas of Pakistan, challenging the sovereignty of that unfortunate country. It was during his predecessor George W. Bush’s tenure that half a million to one million Iraqis had to lose their lives besides displacement of large chunks of population. America also had to pay a heavy price of $2.5 to $4 trillion as the cost of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is backbreaking for a country which is already burdened with a total debt of $16 trillion. According to Nobel laureate Joseph Stieglitz in his book The Three Trillion Dollar War, the total burden of wars may go up to six trillion dollars.
Obama has to face all these pressing problems in addition to the social and moral problems his country is facing as described by Jimmy Carter, another predecessor, in his celebrated book Our Endangered Values.
Things are not so helpful, yet let us hope against hope that Obama will succeed in solving at least some, if not all, problems his country has been facing. Let there be no Afghanistan and Iraq wars and no Abu Gharib and Guntanamo, no assassination drones and no blind support to racist Israel and autocratic regimes.
Let the world have a better tomorrow. We pray Obama plays his role in improving the things.