Barack Obama, A
Man of the People
IDEA
Editorial January 22, 2009
Brack
Obama was inaugurated as the first Black president
of the United States on January 20th
2009. For this historic inauguration a million and
half people converged in the Washington Mall. They
have come to celebrate a new day in American
history and the promise and hope for world peace.
The huddled masses in that bitter cold open space
instinctively understood that this man by the name
Barack (“the blessed one”) Obama is one of
them, of humble origin, and a man of the people.
Those who could not pilgrimage to Washington DC
viewed the inauguration via satellite TV from all
corners of the world; from Pasadena, California,
to New York, to the village where Barack’s father
was born in Kenya, and to Obama City in Japan.
In
his inaugural address, President Obama clearly
delineated the foundation of new American policy
and reassured the Moslem world that he would
engage them in diplomacy and mutual respect. In
regards to the economic crisis, after
acknowledging the collective failure and
individual greed as the main culprit, he reassured
the American people that help is on the way and
that solutions for the crisis will be met.
The
inauguration of Barack Obama anticipates a
historically posterior moment; it addresses not
only the present generation but also future
generations to come. The content, tone, and flavor
of the inaugural address dialectically reveals new
opportunities, including the revitalization of the
domestic economy and the newly restructured US
foreign policy. The inaugural speech, above all,
embodied hope against despondency, and given the
cogency and lucidity of Barack Obama’s spoken
word, resonating beyond the horizon, the
captivated global audience seems to capture the
good will of the new American administration. The
inaugural address was so powerful, not only in
expanding the range of realities on the ground but
also in evoking the emotions of all people at all
levels. Barack Obama indeed is a man of the
people!
I
believe Barack Obama is the first genuine man of
the people. Some historians argue that Andrew
Jackson, the 7th president of the
United States (1829-1837), was the first man of
the people due to his humble origin in contrast to
the aristocratic presidents that preceded him.
Jackson was considered a war hero in the 1812 War,
but he was a slave owner. Nevertheless, Jackson
and Obama may have something in common; they are
both agents of change and unity and both have
inherited national debt. Jackson successfully paid
off the national debt during his term in office;
Obama is poised to do the same.
What
makes Obama the real man of the people, long
before he climbed the mountaintop, is that he was a
community organizer first. In fact, when he danced
in the Neighborhood Mall on January 20th,
he symbolically represented the
community-organizer turned senator turned
president that is a commoner, a citizen, and a man
of the people.
In
his first day in office on January 21, true to his
campaign promise, president Obama emphasized the
new era of openness via transparency and rule of
law as the ‘touchstone of his administration’.
He stated, in no uncertain terms, that his
administration would be holding everybody
accountable. “We are public servants,” says
Obama, and “public service is a privilege; it is
not about advantaging yourself and your
friends.” He declared, “We need to make the
White House a people’s house.” If a man of the
people enters the White House, it is highly
probable that the latter could indeed become a
people’s house.
In
order for Obama to succeed, however, all of us,
especially those in official capacity, must
endorse his agenda, policies, and executive
orders. All of us must engage creatively in
solving America’s economic crisis and the
problem of peace in some regions of the world such
as Congo (DR), Darfur, Somalia, Gaza, and
Afghanistan. Problems, big or small, cannot be
solved individually. It requires a collective and
communitarian effort, and a massive devotion on
the part of citizens. The genius of overcoming
problems is not mere psychological phenomenon
occurring inside individual heads. It is actually
triggered by the common effort and interaction of
neighborhood people. We must understand that
politics, political economy, and other human
activity are gregarious, as a matter of course.
Therefore,
Obama’s charisma, eloquence, and doggedness, and
above all determination to bring about change
could bear fruit only when we all exhibit some
sense of perseverance and sacrifice. Let’s all
embrace the man of the people, Barack Obama and
lets all succeed together!
On
behalf of IDEA, Inc.
Ghelawdewos
Araia
All
Rights Reserved. Copyright © IDEA, Inc. 2009. Dr.
Ghelawdewos Araia can be contacted via dr.garaia@africanidea.org
for constructive and educational feedback.
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