Battle Ready Barry
After a very long primary season, it looks like finally Barry Dunham, now known as Barack Obama, has a>99% good shot at being a major party candidate for president and a decent chance at becoming the most powerful political leader in the world come Jan 21, 2009. No matter what happens, his achievements so far have been remarkable. If he does become President, he will bring a new perspective to the office of the presidency.
What the US needs now is a president, who while deriving strength from her or his convictions, can understant and appreciate opposite points of view to come up with a reasonable and effective solution to the problem she or he is trying to solve. A president who can maintain both ideological flexibility and clarity of thought at the same time. A change from Bush’s ‘with us or against us’ attitude and Hillary’s "I’ll say anything to get a vote or do anything to look tough" attitude. A change from McCain’s "I used to be against some of Bush’s policies but now I can sacrifice some positions to show that I’m a real conservative" attitude.
An Obama presidency will not bring about quck, radical change. I think the country will be at about the same state it is right now after 4 years of an Obama presidency. But many of the decisions made during an Obama presidency will have an impact that will last beyond his presidency. Regarding the war on terror, Obama seems to understand that the fight against violent Islamic radicalism must be fought, but it must be fought right and fought smart. Turning secular, but brutal dictatorships like Iraq into training grounds for Sunni as well as Shiite extremists is not exactly a smart way to fight Al-Qaeda. Providing military aid to multi-ethnic democracies in the Middle East (I’m talking Lebanon, not Israel) and engaging them economically to isolate fundamentalist forces like Hezbollah is. As bad as George W’s judgment on Iraq has been, it has only been eclipsed by Hillary’s even more stupid and dangerous positions on the Middle East. Voting for a resolution declaring the revolutionary guards to be a terrorist organization , knowing that it would be used as an excuse for Bush to attack Iran? Advocating a a security umbrella, whereby the US would be obliged to defend Saudi Arabia , one of the biggest sources of global Islamic terror, from Iran? Barack gets a lot of flack for his position on negotiations with Iran, but if a genuine need does arise in the future for military action against Iran, the US will have more moral authority to use force after having made a sincere attempt at dialogue. McCain, of course, does not improve national or international security in any way by singing songs about bombing the Persians . Obama has recognized the importance of to free trade and globalisation, which is good. At the same time his rhetoric on free trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA has been disturbing. Suspending or even renegotiating free trade agreements that the US pushed in the first place will do damage to US credibility. Such kind of rhetoric is to be expected from time to time from a Democrat, though. Hopefully he will (or already does) realize that the people of many economically deprived countries have benefitted from free trade agreements with the US, and this is in the US’ long term interests since greater prosperity abroad does not only strengthen international peace but ultimately expands the market for US goods and services.
With the fight for the Democratic nomination almost over, one can only hope that Barack moves towards the center on economic policy. Bill Clinton showed in 1992 that support for free trade, if explained properly, is not a hinderance to a Democratic victory. That’s one thing Barack should learn from Bill.
