‘A prudent leader will not and should not observe his promises, when such observance will work against him’

- Nicholo Machiavelli, ‘The Prince’.

The emergence of the Barrack Obama phenomenon has no doubt engendered unprecedented level of interest in American politics, not only within the US, but also globally. The thought of a black man campaigning his way into the tenancy of the White House come November 2008 seems the height of political romanticism. To achieve his aim, Obama has, over the past one year of the Democratic primary campaign, positioned himself as an agent of change; the man who will change the course of American politics. In his best-selling book, ‘The Audacity of Hope’ and on the Campaign Trail, a recurring decimal of Obama’s campaign has been to wear the toga of a reformer; a veritable transformer who is bent on rupturing the status quo and sweep Washington of the Bush-Clinton duopoly. The Democratic left loved him and together with a number of seemingly incompatible bedfellows, ensured that they turned out in multitude to endorse and vote for the candidate of change: Mr Barack Obama.

The trouble is that now that he has secured the Democratic Party nomination, Obama now faces the challenges of appealing to Middle America where presidential elections are invariably won. And since what appeals to the left of his party is mutually exclusive to what appeals to Middle America, Obama has had to perform the necessary political pivot and has had to fine tune certain of his earlier positions which won him the support of the left of his party and gravitates back to the right of the centre!  Let us consider some of Obama’s apparent volte face.

One of the issues that propelled Obama into national and international spotlight was his ardent opposition to the Iraq war. As a senator he voted against the war and throughout the Democratic nomination campaign, he has steadfastly maintained his opposition to the war and is on record as saying that if he became the president, his priority would be to bring back home all the  American troops within 16 months of his presidency.  However he has now ‘refined’ his position on this; the troop might stay there after all and any decision on troop withdrawal will be decided after consultation with his Service Chiefs!  This is in fact not quite different from the official line of the incumbent government.

Similarly, in order to reassure the American Jews that contrary to the smear campaign against him that he has a ‘Jewish problem’, Obama, during a visit to the all-powerful American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC), reiterated his unwavering commitment to the principle that the continuous existence of the state of Israel is ‘sacrosanct’ and that an ‘undivided’ Jerusalem should continue to be the country’s capital. He reiterated the official line that the security of Israel is non negotiable.  Again this is a la George Bush and is an explicit endorsement of the Middle East policy of the incumbent government that has exacerbated the situation in the area and has manifestly failed to lead to peace in that region. Few days ago, Obama also indicated his willingness to expand George Bush faith-based organisations initiative so that government will furnish funds to religious organisations to deliver social and welfare reforms. This of course will not resonate with certain of his supporters who hold fast to the concept of separation of the State from Religion. Obama has also, in the last few weeks indicated that he is a free marketer after all and will in fact strengthen the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He said that his earlier promise to dismantle NAFTA was an ‘overheated rhetoric’!   So much for change!

Similarly in the last few weeks Obama has taken positions that would not have endeared him to his leftist supporters: he has endorsed the decision of the American Supreme Court which approves of the right of Americans to have handguns and, speaking on the Fathers Day, he appeared to put himself potentially in conflict with other black American leaders when he asserted that African-American fathers need to take more responsibility for their children. This statement would have been obvious and sensible one; except that it annoyed those on the left whose view is that government should be solely held responsible for the malaise in the black community. No wonder Rev. Jesse Jackson wanted ‘to cut his nuts off...!’

The recent fine tuning and refining of previously held positions has shown two things about Barack Obama. The first is that he is no more an agent of change than the pope is an apostle of same sex marriage!   He is just like other politicians who gravitate towards a particular position when it was politically expedient to do so.  He has campaigned hard to woo the left of his party by making promises he must have known are incapable of ultimately winning him the elections but which he knew would help for the purposes of the party nomination. Now that the nomination is gained, he can safely ignore them and reposition himself. The second thing we have learnt about him is that he is a smart politician. He knows that if there is one thing that appeals to Middle America, it is to be seen as a betrayer and a traitor by the left!  It is like being accused of Awoism in Lagos politics! It is a fact of American presidential elections that left wingry is a sure election loser! The more the seemingly inconsequential left wing members of the Democratic Party complain about the Obama betrayal, the more he looks like an all American boy that can be trusted. This will not only appeal to Middle-America, but also to the Conservatives who are yet unsure of the credential of John McCain to lead the country.

In the aftermath of the collapse of USSR, the death of communism has led to the apotheosis of free market ideology. Politicians in the West now have to conduct their pitch within the strict confine of capitalist arena, with parties of erstwhile socialist bent now attempting to out- do traditionally conservative parties in their newfangled laisses faire ideology. Intelligent politicians like Obama knows that whilst for short term gain he could court the left of his party, ultimately his fate will be decided by the American people who will not countenance any whiff of undue radicalism. So as the Election Day draws nearer, expect even more change of position from our apostle of change.

Adebayo Kareem, a solicitor, lives in London.

He is contactable on omoalufa@hotmail.co.uk

Robot  # 1 | 15.07.2008 01:07

...Read the full article.

Aremo  # 2 | 15.07.2008 08:13

There is nothing Obama is saying now that he has not said before, and to say he is doing a volte face is an exaggeration. Nice piece though.

toksyleigh  # 3 | 15.07.2008 09:00

Barrack Obama is not different from any other politician, on their best days; they are very slimy. Due to my experience in the West, I have always held this view (might I add that I have never been wrong about this); you can take a goat preferably that you can prove that the goat is a Caucasian, doesn't have to be that educated or could have an MBA from Harvard like George W. Bush (I wonder if Harvard is feeling him these days); base his campaign solely on fear that some unknown enemies of the American values and ways of life is about to destroy them (these enemies recently changed to Muslims it used to be their fellow African Americans) blame all the non-Caucasians for all that is wrong with American values, policies and society, get the endorsement of the jokers called Conservative Christian Right Coalition, I can certainly promise you that this goat will be elected to the white house. So you see, in the end Americans always get the President that they deserve. This statement would have been obvious and sensible one; except that it annoyed those on the left whose view is that government should be solely held responsible for the malaise in the black community. No wonder Rev. Jesse Jackson wanted ‘to cut his nuts off...!’ While I do have my concerns about Obama, but if there is anything I love about his campaign is the way he is taking this opportunity to literarily shoot from the hips to let his Fellow African Americans know the bitter truth that success and economic independence is mostly intrinsic in nature and that God really helps those who pull themselves up by the bootstraps. Like my Grandpa used to say Charity begins at home. Let it be known that Uncle Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton do have some few things to learn from Barrack Hussein Obama. On another note this Nduka Obiagbena guy really cracks me up; really! God help us all. Goriola Abamieda Jr.

chudi97  # 4 | 16.07.2008 00:31

Obama spoke out against the war in a speech he gave condemning it as a "dumb war". At the time, he was a state senator in the state of Illinois. However, Obama was not a US Senator as at the time of the war authorization bill in 2002 and could not have voted against the war. Obama became a US Senator from Jan 2005, 2 yrs after the war had been authorized and waged. So it is inaccurate to say that he voted against the war. Nice article though.