[Stuff, New Zealand]
Die Presse, Austria
Obama: No Miracles, But 'Quality and Class'
"Everyone
knows that even the 44th President of the United States can't work miracles. So
what is this drivel about how he'll disappoint everyone?"
By Christian Ultsch
Translated By Brenda
Annerl
January 22, 2009
Austria
- Die Presse - Original Article (German)
Everyone knows that even the 44th President of the United States can't
work miracles. So what's this drivel about how he'll disappoint everyone?
No one with an IQ over 90 expects that the economy will turn healthy
again with Barack Obama's utterance of a single word. No one believes that Iraq
and Afghanistan will be transformed overnight into oasis of peace just
because the new man in the White House is pleasant and speaks so well. Not even
Obama's most faithful groupies think it's possible that from tomorrow on, all Americans
will have health insurance and that all ozone holes will be closed within two
years. So why, for heaven's sake, do so many "experts" think it
advised to make gloomy predictions of how the 44th President of the United
States will disappoint everyone?
So what? It's obvious that the Obama-euphoria will subside. It would be very
strange indeed if every week, 2 million tourists traveled to Washington just to
catch a glimpse of their new Messiah. Of course, over the coming months the almost
erotic relationship of the world public with the charismatic Black man will no
longer be quite as friendly and uninhibited. Even now, many find that all the hype
about Barack Obama is getting on their nerves. And rightly so, because it's
time to look more closely at whether the man from Illinois with the cool demeanor
can do something beyond give rousing speeches with fine rhetoric.
Obama himself has begun to curb his lofty rhetoric. His tone has become
more sober, more serious. He doesn't promise salvation. Since his election, he has
tried at every opportunity to prepare people for the hard times ahead. The
message has been delivered. A Times/CBS poll shows that most Americans
give the new president two to three years to revive the economy. This shows
that the citizenry is far more realistic than some U.S.-experts with their Cassandra
attitude like to admit. Obama's honeymoon may last much longer than those of
his predecessors.
[Editor's Note: The
God Apollo is said to have given Cassandra, daughter of the king of Troy, the
gift of prophecy. But because Cassandra rejected Apollo's romantic advances, he
cursed her by making it so that no one ever believed her 
].
Anyone who watches TV at least once a week knows that next year, and
presumably not only next year, will be economically rough going. But why should
people cheering from Washington to Nairobi let the gloomy outlook dampen the
party? Times are hard enough - and a little good cheer doesn't do any harm.
Obama's swearing in may be the only global party this year. After this, there may
be nothing but small basement soirées.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
And there are more than enough reasons to celebrate Barack Obama. Hardly
anything could have better showed the power of America to renew itself than the
president's inauguration. In place of the dogmatic, doltish, black and white
painter George Walker Bush is an elegant, curious and open-minded intellectual with
the oratorical capacity to understand and explain difficult situations in all
their nuances.
[International Herald Tribune, France]
Although Obama isn't averse to colorful pathos in his speeches, he has a
good sense of reality and a penchant for pragmatic, bipartisan solutions. This is
also reflected in his moderate economic and foreign policy statements. And this
is also demonstrated by the people he has surrounded himself with: his Pentagon
chief is not an apostle of Bob Dylan, but will continue to be Republican Bob
Gates. And Gates isn't the only sign of continuity. Foreign and the security
policy will remain the same, but for a few exceptions (the closure of
Guantánamo). Because the turning away from Bush I was actually completed by
Bush II. [Editor's Note: Gates was a member of George H.W. Bush's cabinet - and
only joined George W. Bush's cabinet when Bush 43 realized how far off the
rails Iraq had gotten under former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld].
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Nevertheless, there are hard times ahead for Obama. The blessed days
when America was at the zenith of its power, and its political life centered on
delicate (but unimportant) questions like who did or didn’t do what with an
intern, are over. The 44th president inherits two wars, the worst recession for
eighty years and debts in the trillions that ordinary citizens can hardly conceive
of.
Obama's rise has been remarkable. But he must be measured by his deeds. Over
the next four years, the 44th president will need all of the global sympathy he
has built up, but he will also need that rhetorical talent that has assisted
him in so many situations before.
No one should expect
miracles from Obama, but we can securely predict quality and class.
CLICK HERE FOR GERMAN
VERSION
[Posted by
WORLDMEETS.US January 26, 5:19am]
