Obama to repair American image
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MR BARACK OBAMA'S election as the 44th President of the United States of
America has been met with approbation from all the continents.
Africa rejoices with him. It is a great achievement to have one from our own
loins headed for the White House. There will be debate about how much power he
will wield as a black president and whether or not he can change Washington or
let alone be given room to express himself.
We do not expect him to express himself as an African, but an American. We have
always known that there is no way one can be elected president of the United
States unless one subscribes to the ideals of the founding fathers of that
country.
It is only in Zimbabwe where there are people with outlandish beliefs that
someone can be president and yet not believe in the founding principles of the
country. In any country, the presidency is a straight jacket.
During Mr Obama's long campaign, there were instances when he spoke from the
heart, but was quickly brow-beaten into mainstream Washington thinking. He
expressed his intention to engage America's enemies in dialogue without any
preconditions. No sooner had he made that remark than he was pressured to
qualify it by saying "preparations will have to be made". In other words, there
will be conditions.
His view on the need to redistribute the wealth of America saw his rivals come
short of labelling him a communist. They did call him a socialist and other
names. This gives us an idea of the tight room he will have to manoeuvre.
Although he has been a strident critic of the Zimbabwe Government, we celebrate
his election and see an opportunity for re-engagement with the American
government. President Mugabe in congratulating Mr Obama made it clear that
Zimbabwe stands ready to engage the new administration in efforts to improve
relations, which fell to an all-time low under Mr George W. Bush's
administration.
We hope Mr Obama will indeed make an attempt to reach out to America's
perceived enemies and will be conscious of the need to make new friends for
America beyond its traditional allies like Israel and Britain.
Mr Bush had made America unpopular in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and in
the Far East. He was not short of enemies in both North and South America. His
doctrine of unilateralism and his self-righteous approach of labelling other
countries the "axis of evil" to be bombed had given rise to anti-American
sentiments everywhere. Thus the election of Mr Obama was a major public
relations exercise for America.
Mr Obama seems eager to repair this image. In his acceptance speech, he said:
"And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright:
Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from
the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power
of our ideals - democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."
We hope he will be true to this approach of not abusing America's might of arms
and wealth to force smaller nations to swallow its beliefs the George Bush way.
We pray that he will respect the sovereignty of smaller nations.
Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular will need to position themselves
to take advantage of the change in administration in the US. For Zimbabwe, the
expected conclusion of the talks to form an inclusive government would offer
such an opportunity.
There are many American scholars who believe that Mr Obama will still be able
to do much for Africa despite the entrenched positions in Washington. Howard
Wolpe, director of the Africa programme and the Project on Leadership and
Building State Capacity at Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Scholars in
Washington, had this to say: "Obama's ascendancy to the presidency will have
enormous symbolic political power throughout the African continent. The fact
that someone of African ancestry can be president of the United States is going
to substantially increase our moral stature and enable us, I believe, to have
much more greater sway in our relationship with African states."
Africa is the future. Emerging powers like China and India have seen that and
are relating with Africa using a win-win approach as opposed to the
neo-colonial approach of divide-and-rule. We hope Obama's America will not be
one that will be busy promoting conflicts on the continent while it loots its
resources. The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"_______________________________________________
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