OBAMA SAYS: 'I'M NOT TOO WORRIED. THEY
TOLD ME WHERE THE EMERGENCY EXIT IS.'
[La
Jornada, Mexico]
La Jornada, Mexico
U.S. Leadership, Barack Obama Style
"Obama
offered urgently needed realism and common sense after the bellicose and
genocidal paranoia with which neoconservatives had undermined Washington’s
foreign policy. … in his first day on the job, the new president provided a
sign of his leadership, and that data is reassuring."
EDITORIAL
Translated By Fernando Uribe
January 23, 2009
Mexico
- La Jornada - Original Article (Spanish)
The inaugural address of the new
United States President, Barack Hussein Obama, which drew millions of U.S.
citizens to the Capitol esplanade and many millions more in and out of the
United States on radio and television, marked a radical shift in style and
content in the official discourse of that country. For those in attendance ,
the novelty of this mass act provided an opportunity to be witnesses to
history, as the president clearly distanced himself from the cynical
propaganda, Manichaeism and primitive ideals that characterized the words of
George W. Bush’s team and collaborators.
What Obama said was
characterized by a difficult but successful combination of traditionalism and
audacity; respect for republican rules of etiquette and fierce criticism of the
political class that surrounds him; a recognition of the imperialist history of
his nation and proposals for a renewal of attitudes toward the rest of the
world; by stark realism and hope; and by a reflective spirit and a call to
action. In this way, the new president transformed the risk of a political
fracture into a bid for unity. Without abandoning the enunciation of the
historic values that have always been raised by rulers in Washington, Obama
reinterpreted them and gave them an inclusive and modern direction. If
political sense is the first attribute needed to manage the presidency of any
country, the first African-American to reach the White House has shown that he
possesses it - and this fact alone is reason for relief and optimism.
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With respect to issues of
substance, Obama yesterday voiced ideas that only months ago, in an environment
dominated by neo-liberalism, would have sounded like heresy: “The question we
ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it
works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can
afford, a retirement that is dignified..” Or: “Without a watchful eye, the
market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors
only the prosperous.”
On the only TV available, people in an impoverished
Kenyan village watch the inauguration of one of their
own as president of the United States, Jan. 21.
In the area of foreign
policy, Obama rehabilitated themes that have been abandoned for the past eight
years, such as the battle against poverty and inequality and a the concerted
action required in the face of climate change and the destruction in the natural
environment. Nevertheless, the core posture of the United States remains an
enigma: The new head of state didn't abandon the arrogance of his country’s
traditional interventionism and evoked the memory of U.S. soldiers who have
fallen, not in defense of the freedom and security of their fellow citizens,
but in adventures of oppression and aggression against other peoples.
“We will not apologize for
our way of life nor will we waver in its defense. And for those who seek to advance
their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now
that, "Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us,
and we will defeat you.," Obama said, perhaps without having in mind the
latest "massacre of innocents," to use his words, which was
perpetrated by the government of Israel (the closest U.S. ally in the Middle
East) against unarmed civilians population in the Gaza Strip.
The front page of Mexico's
La Jornada, January 21, 2009
It's worth asking oneself
what governments he was referring to when he stated, “To those who cling to
power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent,” to whom he
offered to “extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." Such
regimes abound among some of Washington’s traditional allies: Saudi Arabia,
Colombia, Morocco, and Egypt might be a few good examples. Mention of
Afghanistan and Iraq were largely rhetorical; what is meant by, forging "a
hard-earned peace in Afghanistan"?
In any case, Obama offered
urgently needed realism and common sense after the bellicose and genocidal
paranoia with which neoconservatives had undermined Washington’s foreign
policy. He recalled that, “our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it
entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through
its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the
force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.”
On the domestic front, the
new United States president called his country to mobilize to rebuild an
economy and a society devastated by unbridled speculative debauchery, a
voracious privatization of public goods and services, the concentration of
wealth in the hands of a few elite billionaires and the most scandalous
corruption. His offered a healthy recognition of average citizens and their
capacity to overcome the political and economic obstacles ahead; of anonymous
individuals to stand up to the powerful; of equality in the face of
discrimination; and of audacity in the face of despair.
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But it's one thing is to
state the purpose of government and another, quite distinct thing to practice
those principles. Surely, neither Obama nor the country will be able to satisfy
the huge backlog load of hopes and expectations that gathered yesterday on the
esplanade the stretches out in front of the Capitol, particularly when
considering that the United States faces two equally monumental challenges: a
recession that could be the worst in history and two bellicose aggressions
against faraway nations.
But in his first day on the
job, the new president provided a sign of his leadership, and that data is
reassuring. One can hope that he performs ethically and with consistency,
efficiency, sensitivity and ethics - and
it is appropriate that we wish him luck.
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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US January 27,
04:47pm]
