Today, Barack Obama starts his first day as US president, after being inaugurated yesterday 20th January 2009 as America's 44th president and its first black leader. He has pledged a "new era of responsibility" and many around the world are still celebrating. Others are questioning whether he will be able to live up to the expectations that millions have of him or whether he has set himself a challenge that can not be overcome.
I am neither political enough, knowledgeable enough of American history or intelligent enough to debate the issues deeply. I have listened to his inaugural speech and read of his background and policies. He appears to me to be honest and trustworthy and genuinely caring towards all, though this is usual with people when they begin office. Everything he proposes will take time and no one should expect immediate change. But if he succeeds in even a small amount of what he intends, then we should wish him well.
I have not been a believer in George Bush’s policies and have felt ashamed at our own leaders here in Britain, who have so often followed in his path. Hopefully, President Obama will be someone who presides well and Britain can feel proud to have the government and people of the USA as allies.
In the Spring of 1997, I was in the staff lounge at Glen Parva's Young Offenders Centre and witnessed the hushed crowd before the lounge television as the reporter knocked on the door of Tony Blair's house and his wife opened the door in her robe. Everyone that day believed that because John Majors was out that Thatcherism was over, except me. I tried to explain to my fellow staff members that their Tories and Labour are the same as America's Republicans and Democrats - they're two sides of the same coin. I said that if they wanted true change, then they needed to have picked the Liberal Democrat. Tony Blair went on to demonstrate to them the wisdom of my observation - he went along with Bush Junior as if he were Tory and not Labour. Blair was so bad that a website sprang up to get rid of him - www.ImpeachBlair.org .
Fast forward to today and we have the same situation with Obama. Obama is America's Tony Blair. If America wanted change, then voters should've picked the black WOMAN who ran for President - Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party. When McKinney was in Congress, she voted against Bush Junior all the time whereas Obama voted WITH Bush Junior ninety percent of the time. Obama had demonstrated to the power elite that he could be trusted to carry on with the status quo, and so they publicised him while ignoring McKinney and other candidates that they didn't trust. The point is that Obama is our Tony Blair and will carry on with business as usual. And that is tragic.
Democratic Dilemmas and Divine Inspiration examines the significance or relevance of the idea that the U.S. Constitution was, as many believe, divinely inspired. How much did that belief matter to founders of the nation and how much does it matter no
Fast forward to today and we have the same situation with Obama. Obama is America's Tony Blair. If America wanted change, then voters should've picked the black WOMAN who ran for President - Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party. When McKinney was in Congress, she voted against Bush Junior all the time whereas Obama voted WITH Bush Junior ninety percent of the time. Obama had demonstrated to the power elite that he could be trusted to carry on with the status quo, and so they publicised him while ignoring McKinney and other candidates that they didn't trust. The point is that Obama is our Tony Blair and will carry on with business as usual. And that is tragic.