- The Savior of the Universe? -
Barak Obama. Not the kind of name that comes to mind when one thinks about the Presidency of the United States. Until now. Barak has already been crowned by the media. Here in Europe people are rather in rapture. But what is Obama all about, and what kind of president he would make is not altogether clear. He would be among the most liberal Presidents that America has ever seen, and with the Democratic gains in the House of Representatives and the Senate he would be a very powerful one too.
Canadians overwhelmingly support Obama. But the Democrats are not necessarily Canada’s best friends. They have a lot of ties to powerful unions who see Canada as one more foreign interloper, stealing America’s jobs. Obama may have been bluffing about NAFTA, but in the current economic climate I wouldn’t be surprised if new protectionist policies came into effect. Of course it’s hard to tell how deep or how protracted this economic slowdown will get. On one hand, it could tie Obama’s hand, limiting the implementation of his health care objectives and so on, but on the other hand it could also force his hand into intervening economically in ways that will make many people in and outside of the US uncomfortable.
And then there’s Iraq. I’m sure Obama would like to pull out and wash his hands of it, but it won’t be that easy. The Brits haven’t had too much luck pulling out their limited force, withdrawing the American deployment isn’t going to be like turning around and heading home. It will be a major operation, and there’s no guarantee that a (further) destabilized Iraq wouldn’t compel Obama to keep troops there, regardless of his plans.
Obama is a far more articulate and charismatic man than Bush, and this will serve him well. (Not that we should write off McCain, we’d be fooling to ignore the fact that this race is not yet over by any means). But, as president Obama faces problems that do not have easy answers, let’s hope he has the brains and courage to manage them well.
