Thoughts on Obama

Like most of the planet, I was incredibly happy at the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States of America for a number of reasons.

As the USA's first black president, it means there's been at least some sort of conclusion to the American Civil War...although it's taken nearly a century and a half.

It's marks an end to the eight year reign of error and terror of Bush-Cheney.

It comes at a time when the global banking system is near collapse under the weight of the high risk mortgage scandal in the U.S. The thirty year rule of the economic policies of Von Hayek and Milton Friedman are thoroughly discredited in the eyes of most of the world's people. Mainstream journalists are starting to talk about Keynes again.

When the Republicans accused Barack Obama of being a "socialist", Obama was easily able to dismiss them by asking whether he was a socialist just because when he was a kid he shared his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I thought it was brilliant.

Of course President-elect Obama isn't a socialist. I know because I have no problem at all wearing that label. Obama definitely isn't me.

It's really easy to be cynical. I know that many on the traditional left are. This is the USA...the most socially and politically conservative of any of the advanced capitalist countries.

I don't expect miracles.

What I do hope is that it opens up some space for more progressive political ideas to flourish.

I hope that the largely internet-based movement of young people doesn't go away and keeps the heat on President-elect Obama to follow through on some of his more progressive policy announcements.

I hope that he follows through and ends the war in Iraq. I also hope that he doesn't follow through with his promise to beef up the U.S. presence in Afghanistan.

I hope that the U.S. becomes a little bit less imperialistic and starts to cooperate with other countries rather than dictate to them.

I hope that President Obama follows through and signs the Kyoto protocol.

I hope that President Obama has the courage to ignore the folks on Wall Street and implements some more "New Deal" oriented economic policies.

I hope that President Obama is a little bit friendlier to labour and starts making it easier for U.S. workers to join unions.

Reality being what it is, any major downturn in the U.S. economy is going to pull the rest of the world down with it. But if at least to some degree Obama is able to turn things around, he'll pull the rest of us up again.

Maybe this is too much to hope for...maybe it isn't. One thing is certain. The ruling elites are going to do their best to make sure that nothing much happens. The challenge for the rest of us is to keep the pressure on and make sure that things do happen.