07 Nov 2008 |
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| Obama and the African connection
By Reuben Abati SENATOR Barack Obama's victory in the November 4, United States Presidential election and his certain emergence as the 44th President of the United States has brought many across the world, brown, black and white alike so much joy and excitement. Obama is perhaps the first truly international President to have emerged from an American electoral process in the last century, and the candidate with the most impressive win at the polls since Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936 and Lyndon Johnson in 1964. We received the news of his victory with joy. Seeing Rev. Jesse Jackson crying on television, many across the world also burst into tears and they allowed their tears to flow. This year's US Presidential election will be remembered forever as a major triumph for American democracy. In an age of growing anti-Americanism, the election has brought America so much goodwill, the nearly two-year process leading to that historic moment on November 4 advertises America as a country with a remarkable capacity to reinvent and remake itself and imbibe the lessons of history. Obama, the winner of the election, was the man the whole world wanted to win. His message of hope, change, the possibility of dreams and the reality of achievement resonated across all parts of the world. "Yes, we can," he had campaigned. And "Yes, he did." Such determination and the potency of will-power is at the heart of human passions. Obama's victory was a great moment for mankind and an even more special moment for blacks, and other minorities across the world. American exceptionalism has again been re-affirmed. The United States is the first country with a majority white population to elect a black man as President. Race, that special factor which we thought could stand in Obama's way at the last minute was most certainly not an issue after all. Senator John McCain, who has been most gracious in defeat, reframed from making it a bigger issue. America did not abolish the slave trade until 1865 and even then, the black man representing 12 per cent of the American population has been subjected, through American history, to various forms of racial discrimination. The American Black was denied the right to vote, to protest, to have a white girlfriend, to sit on the same bus-row with a white person... It was not until 61 years ago that a black man, Jackie Robinson was allowed to play Major League Baseball. It was only 54 years ago, that the US Supreme Court in Brown vs Board of Education desegregated American schools. The Civil Rights Act was passed only in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. It was only 45 years ago that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott and delivered the "I Have A Dream Speech." Martin Luther King's Dream has now been fulfilled in Obama. A black family can now sleep in Jefferson's bedroom and two young black children can prance freely about in the gardens of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This is a grand atonement for the atrocities of the Ku Klux Khan, Jim Crow and the pain of slavery. Obama's victory is the ultimate reparation. Racism will however, not disappear in the United States simply because of the Obama achievement. But every black man, every minority in the United States - Hispanics, Asians, natives etc, can now walk with an extra bounce beneath his or her feet. Obama's victory is a loud confirmation that the proverbial American dream is real and possible, and that "change we believe in" is achievable. Obama is not going to be the President of Black or White people, not of Red or Blue Americans, but President of a nation and the leader of a people. He has already dealt with this race question in his "More Perfect Union" address in Philadelphia and through the theme of unity and co-operation in his well-considered election-victory speech. For Africans, however, race remains the most important consideration in their response to the Obama phenomenon. The average African celebrates Obama because he sees in his victory, his own victory, he sees in Obama's pre-eminence, a re-affirmation of faith in his own abilities. And so, across Nigeria, Kenya and elsewhere in the continent, people are still dancing long after the election. The Americans did not declare a public holiday, but in Kenya, President Mwai Kibaki, declared a National Obama Holiday. In Nigeria, apart from the dancing on the streets, and the excitement of vendors and the middle class, congratulatory adverts, with Obama's pictures are beginning to appear in Nigerian newspapers. There was such an advert placed in the ThisDay newspaper of Thursday November 6, at p.70 by the Adamawa State Government - loaded with grammatical errors. President Umaru Yar'Adua has described Obama's victory as "a new era", and former President Olusegun Obasanjo has rushed a long commentary to the press. Obama's victory will be attended no doubt by great and increasing expectations, not least in Africa. The first reaction, locally, is one of psychological elation. A black man in the White House makes the average African feel good. The fact that Obama has roots in an African village in Kenya is a source of added excitement. Obama's sheer brilliance has exploded the myth about the inferiority of the black man's intelligence. The second reaction is the presumption that with President Obama in the White House, African countries are bound to get a better deal from the United States in terms of aid, and growth opportunities, since Obama being black and African, would be naturally inclined to be Africa-friendly. The third expectation, that I have heard expressed, is that with Obama in the White House, US immigration policies may create special opportunities for Africans. As one fellow put it: "no one would dare refuse him a US visa or treat him shabbily anywhere in the US anymore, now that a black man is in the White House". In Africa, most of our expectations with regard to President Obama are exaggerated and misplaced. The psychological gain of having a black man, as the most powerful man in the world, is immeasurable. We can savour this moment. We deserve it. Obama has earned the prize for our village and community. But that is the much that Africans should expect. To think that a President Obama would go out of his way to favour Africa would be presumptuous. He has more urgent assignments. He has to fix America, a country that has been thrown into another Great Depression by poor and uninspiring leadership and the failure of the free market. He has to ensure real change in the lives of Americans whose choice on November 4 was also a vote against the Bush Presidency. Africans must be reminded that the American foreign policy process is not driven by individual whim but by concrete principles that are almost cast in concrete. Yesterday, President Obama began his process of initiation (the equivalent of kingship rites in Africa) when he started attending a series of briefings on "America's security secrets." He will be guided by those secrets, not primordial African sentiments. America is bound to be his primary interest, and on such issues as Iran, Cuba, North Korea, there isn't much difference between his position and that of the American Establishment. Americans expect a "New Deal"; how Obama goes about that assignment would determine whether he ends up a great President or not. It is not only Africa that looks up to him, the whole world does. He cannot afford to fail. Africans must also realize that an Obama Presidency will not translate into a visa boom for Africans. Immigration reform was an issue under the Bush Presidency but Congress refused to support it. With a Democratic Party majority in Congress, it may be easier for a President Obama to make US immigration policies more friendly, but this will not be in the form of special African concessions. The United States runs a system, based on the rule of law. Africans who think because a black man is in the White House, they can violate US laws, are mistaken. The ultimate value of the US elections and Senator Obama's victory, for us, is in the area of lessons. Some Nigerians are already sending text messages inviting people to an Obama party, complete with "Aso-ebi" and arrangements for fun. There are promises of a heavy Nigerian presence at the January 20 Presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. And suggestions that the White House should be re-named the "Black House". If we love success and democracy so much, why don't we create an enabling environment for the same values in Africa? Mwai Kibaki has declared a national holiday in Kenya. This is the same man who is a vicious tyrant and who rigged himself into power in Kenya's last Presidential elections. Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has done a quick essay on Obama: so, he knows what is good? President Yar'Adua talks about "a new era." This is precisely what Nigerians are demanding from him: "a new Nigeria", "a new moment in our lives," "hope and change that Nigerians can believe in." There has been so much enthusiasm also about the efficiency of American democracy, even from political parties and state Governors who are sponsors of violence and electoral fraud in Nigeria. Obama is of minority stock in the United States, it is amazing to see Nigeria's dyed-in-the-wool champions of the politics of ethnicity and exclusion, praising Obama and the American process. In the run-up to the 2007 electoral process in Nigeria, a number of candidates from the minority groups sought the Presidency of Nigeria: Peter Odili, Donald Duke, Obong Victor Attah, Pat Utomi...they were told that they could not be President because they are from ethnic groups without a large population to deliver the votes. Even at state levels, certain ethnic groups are barred from producing the state Governor for being minority groups. We have seen in the United States, not the politics of ethnicity, but the politics of ideas. We have seen an electoral process in which the voter's choice counted. These are areas of instruction for a country and a continent where the political elite is venal and irresponsible. We admire Obama, but would we want to be like him and the society that has made him?
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