Dear Editor,
On January 26, a letter by GHK Lall in SN painted a bleak picture of President Obama’s future based on the polls and commentaries in the USA. According to Mr Lall, Obama is failing miserably and will be a one-term president. I disagree with Mr Lall’s analysis and would venture to predict exactly the opposite, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Politics, I would argue, is the one part of mankind’s make-up which is really, most times, like a mirage. What I mean is that we (could be a large part of the population) might see something that we believe to be the pressing reality politically, when in fact it is really a transitional mental frame of political consciousness. Take South Africa where, in the minds of the world, racialism was the order of the day and Mandela was in prison, and yet in just four years he was President of a free and progressive country which had been the pariah of the world; and imagine, the white politicians joined Mandela to develop South Africa.
Look at Napoleon of France in the early 1800s who from virtually nowhere emerged as the maximum leader and eventually Emperor, and was exiled to a remote island after being defeated by allied European forces. Everyone in the world wrote him off but in a short time he escaped and returned to France a hero and was finally defeated in one of the world’s greatest battles, Waterloo. Right here in Guyana, the transitional mental frame of political consciousness invites us to believe that racial voting patterns will always be predominant, but that is not necessarily true, and that is why the opposition needs to get its act together in order to bring the necessary changes we all need for a better future.
So, Editor, the point I’m trying to make is that the situation in which Mr Obama finds himself does not necessarily mean that in a few short years it cannot be reversed. And the facts speak for themselves. Take the internal situation in the USA where Obama has laid all the groundwork for a future of growth by stimulating the economy in more ways than one – the $787B initial investment and bail-out plan will eventually create jobs; the laying of a comprehensive plan to rid the US of its dependence on foreign oil and the new technologies and industries to generate new power sources will also create jobs; conservation policies will result in new enterprises being born and jobs being created (for example the management of waste which is now becoming an energy source and which will spawn new industries and more jobs); the heavy investment in education which will see results in a few short years, thus securing the USA’s credentials in science, technology and inventiveness, and which will create high-paying jobs and expand the reach of research and development in areas from underwater resources to the frontiers of space; policies and investment priorities including better rail, bus and airline services, which will increase commerce in the USA and thus create more business opportunities; the health-care plan which will be passed by the Congress and Senate and will bring positive results to the whole economy because it will invigorate the investment possibilities in the fields of health, especially research, and will place the USA in the front line of medical innovation. The list of President Obama’s initiatives in the USA can go on and on, because he is tackling problems head-on and positive results will show before his re-election in 2012.
Internationally, Obama is on the correct course and will bring the military involvements of the USA to a successful conclusion, and thus enhance his standing with the electorate; this will increase commerce and trade with the rest of the world, thus bringing growth and security to the American economy and securing him a second term in office. With the balkanization of the former Soviet Union and the growing economic power of the European Union, trade links and new commercial corridors will present openings for innovative and revolutionary technologies which the USA under Obama will take advantage of, and this will further advance his claim to a second term and his place in history.
The human spirit placed President Obama in the powerful position he now holds, and it is the same human spirit which will keep him there because Obama is following the laws of the human conscience. He possesses the dedication of making the world a better place and has the wisdom to believe in change with the endurance to fight for it to the end. Obama will be around as President of the USA and leader of the world community until 2016, of that I am sure. Can he be one of the greatest American presidents? Yes he can!
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr)
