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The Barack Obama Phenomenon: Meaning & Implications Of His Emergence For Africa And The World At Large (continued) |
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THE BARACK OBAMA PHENOMENON: MEANING & IMPLICATIONS OF HIS EMERGENCE FOR AFRICA AND THE WORLD AT LARGE (continued) 3. Presidential Campaigns: The Obama Approach Since his victory in the Democratic primaries to become the Democratic candidate for the 2008 American Presidential election, Barack Obama's campaign has moved from its focus on insurgency within the Democratic Party to the development of a strategy aimed at revitalizing American democracy in the general election. It is an extraordinary challenge following the Republican Party's championship of a punitive politics of exclusion over four decades that was inaugurated under Nixon in 1968. In effect, Obama's campaign has been shaped by the twin imperatives of redeeming the fortunes of the Democratic party as a national political force, and revitalizing the politics of inclusion that shaped American politics from the passage of the 19 th Amendment which guaranteed women the right to vote in 1920 to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which promised the right to vote to all eligible citizens without regard to race. Given these imperatives, Obama will have to demonstrate the capacity to unite a Democratic party that has demonstrated a remarkable capacity for self-mutilation since 1968. However, it is obvious that the Democratic Party's collective leadership across several generations has already embraced Obama and is now at work forging a platform for the party's good showing at the general elections, come November. Further, he will have the opportunity to use the Presidential campaign to forge ties with constituencies outside of the Democratic Party as the 2008 election promises to be the opening of a process of electoral realignment that may be as significant as that of the New Deal era. A Democratic Party victory in 2008 offers the promise of majorities in both Houses of Congress as well as the Presidency. It will mark a significant shift in the fortunes of the Democratic Party which, like the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression, will be charged with rescuing America from the economic misfortune and ideological irrelevance of a Republican party that has lost its way. It was Roosevelt's success with the New Deal that set the stage for the Democratic ascendancy over the period 1932-1968 and an Obama victory in 2008 may well signal a new era in American politics after the domestic and foreign policy failures that have relegated the Bush administration to its current status as an embarrassment. It is this shift from the primaries to the national election, and the elevation of Obama to the standard bearer of the Democratic Party that will be a testing time for Obama. He has become the symbol of widely divergent expectations across the political spectrum and much of the election campaign will be about forging a winning coalition that reaches beyond the Democratic Party. He will be challenged to walk a series of fine lines in dealing with issues from dealing with the immediate legacies of Bush - on Wall Street and in foreign policy - to reshaping budget priorities for health care, funding educational mandates, improving national infrastructure, energy policy, and devising long-term solutions to the Social Security program. Even before the election, his campaign will have to present a vision and policies that can be used as sounding board for the challenges of governance. As Presidential candidate, he will have the opportunity to draw on the wide range of talent available to the Democratic Party to test out the ideas that will have appeal to a broad range of constituencies.
He has the capacity and the resources to build a winning coalition but the ultimate task of governance will be the area in which Obama will pose the most serious challenges. Those challenges will arise not from a lack of resources but from the weight of expectations that have been aroused by his campaign - expectations that link both domestic and international constituencies. Obama's speech to the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee on June 4, the day after winning the majority of delegates in the primaries, has already signaled the conflicts that will emerge between his electoral campaign and government policy. In attempting to persuade the Jewish-American community that he was supportive of Israel, following George W. Bush's veiled attack in the Israeli Knesset on Obama's advocacy of diplomatic engagement with Iran as "appeasement", Obama said: " Let me be clear. Israel's security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable. The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper - but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided." His comments were assailed by the Palestinians as representative of no change from the Bush administration's policies and Obama's campaign issued a statement indicating that Obama's view was that: "Jerusalem is a final status issue, which means it has to be negotiated between the two parties" and forming part of "an agreement that they both can live with." The episode revealed the kind of minefields that Obama will confront in the campaign and one of the key issues that he will have to address is how to balance the call for change in Washington with the flexibility to accept the need for continuity at policy levels if he wins the election. Beyond the Middle East, one of the important issues that Obama will have to face is the issue of Latin America and the emergence of progressive nationalist regimes in the region that have been unenthusiastic about the Bush administration. How will the Obama campaign articulate a policy towards Latin America where Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil - all of which have significant communities of indigenous and African descent - have become increasingly sensitive to the domestic politics of race. The Obama campaign can become a catalyst for increasing mobilization among the region's historically disadvantaged communities. Alternatively, will a strategic shift in the Middle East result in an increasing reliance upon West African oil resources? If so, how will that shift towards deeper engagement with Africa affect US advocacy of democracy and human rights in the region? How will the articulation of a vision of sustained economic engagement with Africa affect domestic political debates where race remains a volatile issue? How will African governments view an Obama administration? Muammar Gadafy's recent denunciation of Obama as a black man suffering from an inferiority complex because of his statement on Israel suggests some of the ways in which the challenge of reconciling domestic calls for change with international expectations of change in both rhetoric and substance can be fraught with unintended consequences. In the case of Europe, how will the Obama era affect the politics of race within European societies which confront the question of integration of minority communities of African, Arab, Asian, Caribbean, and Muslim descent? How will Obama's campaign reshape the rhetoric of political inclusion and democratic representation in European societies which are grappling with the ghetto-ization of these communities? Can Obama's campaign serve as a way of framing the language of multi-cultural democracy for its application in the European context? These are some of the wider range of issues that are coming to the fore as the Obama campaign gains momentum. In many, ways, Obama's campaign signals a major shift in both the American and global context and that shift will provoke challenges that should not be underestimated. It will also require an unprecedented mobilization of intellectual resources to help shape the paradigms and policies that are resulting from that shift in consciousness. 4. The Possibilities, Implications and Limits of a More Enlightened U.S. Foreign Policy towards Africa under Barack Obama I have no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will pursue a more enlightened foreign policy towards Africa than George Bush has and more importantly than John McCain would. But that is actually where the problem lies- the problem of over-expectation from Obama by Africa. Already some people are under the impression that Obama is Africa’s equivalent of the Biblical prodigal son, who will eventually come home to the father. I want to warn that we should stop deluding ourselves because Barack Obama is not Africa's prodigal son. He is an American politician running for the presidency of the United States of America. His family ties to Africa ( Kenya to be exact) have, however, given him a greater personal connection to the continent and its people than any other American presidential candidate before him. As far as I am aware he also has the most cosmopolitan upbringing of any presidential candidate to date. These facts combined with his intellectual strength, eloquence, and ability to think outside of the box suggest that if elected president he will pursue a more diplomacy-oriented and judicious foreign policy in general. With regard to Africa, the simple fact that the continent is already on his radar further suggests we can expect him to have a greater hand in proactively crafting his administration's Africa agenda, rather than doing what most US presidents have done before him: neglect Africa except when the United State's strategic interests are involved, and we all know how that story repeatedly turned out. Without exception, US intervention to secure its interests in Africa has been disastrous for the continent. The Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, still hasn't recovered from decades of Mobutu Sese Seko's US-sponsored kleptocracy. While we certainly have cause for hope, we also need to be mindful of the very real constraints that Barack Obama is laboring under and how these limitations necessarily affect his ability to imagine and enact a foreign policy that departs from the past. Inasmuch as his family ties might work in Africa's favor, they also pose a viable threat to his ability to be seen as an impartial advocate for Africa. We do know that variously Obama has been portrayed as a candidate whose ties to Kenya and Islam are greater than his ties to America and Christianity. We've already been given a stark, indeed depressing, example of how Obama has sought to counteract his detractors' claims that he is a Muslim and therefore likely to roll back America's staunch defense of Israel. The morning after he clinched the Democratic nomination he appeared in front of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and gave an over-the-top pledge of his support for the Israeli state. Indeed after promising no less than 30 billion dollars over the next decade in military aid to Israel, he declared to the AIPAC audience that " Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided." While it is conventional wisdom that no candidate could win the presidency without toeing the line on Israel, Obama's speech had the effect of making the Bush administration's stance on Israel seem progressive, despite its disregard for Palestinian humanity, dignity and wellbeing over the last eight years. If Obama has already gone overboard trying to allay fears that his familial connections to Islam pose a threat to America's "special" relationship with Israel, we ought to be equally concerned that he could respond to accusations that he is biased in favor of Africa because of his Kenyan roots, by under-emphasizing Africa as a policy priority. Inasmuch as he has played down race so as not to alienate white voters, he has only played up his Kenyan roots to emphasize his worldliness as an asset that would allow him to better lead America in an increasingly globalized world. While he was widely lauded as a prodigal son when he visited South Africa, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Chad, and most especially Kenya in 2006, he is better understood as a prodigal politician, whose homecoming to Africa- given his political ambitions-must be less about "coming home" and more about beefing up his foreign policy credentials. In short,Obama's family ties necessitate that he tread gingerly when it comes to arguing that Africa should be a major policy priority. Ultimately the promises and pitfalls for Africa of an Obama presidency are two sides of the same coin:
So what can we say, in a more definitive fashion, about where Obama stands on Africa? If we are to go by his official website, Africa is featured on the list of his top eight foreign policy priorities, which in descending order are:
Rather than taking umbrage at Africa's bottom position on the list, I am pleasantly surprised that it is on the list to begin with (needless to say Africa doesn't feature at all in John McCain's foreign policy priorities). Coming in right after Israel on a list that doesn't even mention China is, I think, quite suggestive of how important Africa is to Obama. According to his web site, stopping the genocide in Darfur, ending the conflict in Congo, and bringing former Liberian president Charles Taylor to justice comprise the three main foci of Obama's Africa plan. With regards to Darfur, Obama has already put his money where his mouth is, divesting about $180,000 of his personal financial holdings from Sudan-related stock. While I was inspired to see the genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo addressed in his platform, I noticed that his African agenda is primarily reactive rather than proactive. Let's hope that once he wins the presidency he'll bring on board a group of advisors that can help him undo the "destructive engagement" ethos that has defined America's policy towards Africa since the Cold War. Perhaps then we can begin to formulate an African foreign policy that regards the continent as something other than a basket case. Ensuring fair trade, which would allow African producers to access American markets on more equitable terms, would be a good start. Returning to the issue of advisors, we do know that Susan Rice who served as Bill Clinton's Assistant Secretary of State Obama also appears to share Rice's pro-AFRICOM position. He is quoted as saying, "There will be situations that require the United States to work with its partners in Africa to fight terrorism with lethal force. Having a unified command operating in Africa will facilitate this action." At least Obama isn't trying to pass off AFRICOM as a humanitarian initiative, like Bush did when he misleadingly claimed that AFRICOM "will enhance our efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa," while promoting the "goals of development, health, education, democracy and economic growth." Obama clearly sees it for what it is: the post-9/11 militarization of Africa. 5. Pan-Africanism & Third World Prospects in a Possible Obama Presidency The exclamatory commentary that has accompanied Barack Obama's ascendancy to the nomination of the Democratic Party's presidential candidate has excited, beneath it, the question of what the nomination itself, and a possible Obama presidency, might mean for the Pan-Africanist world as well as the Third World. While much of the commentary has been adulatory, there have also been cautionary tones, not to mention ambivalent ones. Beyond the excitement, caution and ambivalence of what a possible Obama presidency might entail for Pan-Africa and the Third World, what Obama himself has said in his writing, and has not said, might prove to be revelatory in attempting to explore the discussion that has exercised many minds around the world. We take this exploration by examining some of the issues that have been raised. The Pan-Africa I am referring to here is the one that builds on the ideological consciousness of the global historical experiences and identities of people of African descent, and others who share that ideology for political and solidarity purposes. It is a Pan-Africanist consciousness that draws from DuBois's hope, back in 1897, that if Africans were to be a factor in the history of the world, it would have to be through a Pan-African movement. Thus when Ghana became independent from Britain in 1957, DuBois, unable to attend the epochal occasion due to his passport being impounded by the US government, handed over the mantle of the Pan-Africanist movement to Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, through a letter that he wrote and had delivered to Nkrumah. The 1966 military coup that overthrew Nkrumah as Ghana's president dealt a big blow to a Pan-Africanist movement that had achieved a great deal for people of African descent, especially in Africa. The shared African identity and global consciousness spawned by Pan-Africanist ideology played a key role in mobilizing support amongst African and Third World regions in overthrowing colonialism. In the United States, Malcolm X, Farrakhan and Martin Luther King both looked up to the Pan-African world for solidarity in overcoming American racism. With Nkrumah gone, the ideals of Pan-Africanism began atrophying, to the extent that in the 21 st century today there is no discernible movement that concerns itself with the problems that afflict Africa and people of African descent around the world. But there is no question that such a movement is as necessary today as it was in the 1950s and 60s. In his autobiography Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama has demonstrated his awareness of both a Pan-Africanist and Third World consciousness, but for the nationalist demands of American politics today, he has not made that awareness a part of his campaign platform. But those who know Obama's autobiographical instincts in guiding his best judgments know that his upbringing and struggle to identify himself are a core part of who he is. And it is his autobiographical narrative that has appealed to people around the globe. Thus while heeding the call to be cautious in speculating what a possible Obama presidency might do for the Pan-African world, it is worth discussing the extent to which Obama's narrative in itself has the potential to influence new visions and energies in the study of the Pan-African world and its future prospects. Those energies have been on display in many places around the world, not least in Kenya, where Obama's father came from.
A June 5th editorial What would prevent a President Obama from being helpful to Africa then are the two core functions of the American presidency: to "develop and implement a foreign policy to enhance US interests and pursue a domestic policy that will bring economic prosperity to the nation." It was in the service of those two functions that America's role in the world had been historically shaped, and continued to be, limiting the scope of what an individual president could do, even as he or she brought his or her personality and individuality to what is considered the most powerful leadership position in the world. In the final analysis, the significance of an Obama presidency for Pan-Africa and the Third World will lie less in what Barack Obama may or may not be able to do for people of African descent than in the symbolic message that his ascendancy to the most powerful office in the world will do in changing black people's perceptions of who they are in the world, and how others view them. That has been the underlying, implicit cause of the renewed hope in what has been said by the Kenyans, the Malawians, the South Africans, the Nigerians, Caribbeans etc, and in fact every one else around the world who has joined in the celebration. While the office of the US presidency may limit Obama's actual impact on Pan-Africa and the Third World, the symbolic importance of the achievement is what has the potential to go much further in offering a paradigm shift in the self-perception of a people whose destiny, according to Frantz Fanon, represents the possibility to refashion a new vision for the world, one beyond the limits set by European rationality and the consequences, both good and bad, that the Third World has reaped there from. For that to happen, Obama's own notion of what race and racism still mean in today's America and how some minorities are overcoming it could shine some light on the path this transformation might take. Obama devotes a chapter in The Audacity of Hope to the topic of race, in which he offers both a stinging and sensitive portrayal of the bane of America's ethnic identity, as well as the prospects of what can be achieved in breaking down racial barriers. No matter our opinion about Barack Obama, one point is very clear, and that is, that Obama has become a permanent fixture in the United States of America’s political landscape. What we see today is an American landscape embellished with the Obama fragrance; his oratorical allure; his humility and discipline; and political sagacity. Whatever we may think, whatever might have been our position or the stereotype or prejudice about the charisma and determination of the black man to excel, even in the most difficult and treacherous terrains, the impact of the Obama presidency in the United States will henceforth change the world view about blacks for ever. Perhaps what is more exciting and deeply moving is the character and nature of the American politics, particularly the Democrats. I want to praise the Democratic Party in the USA and the American people at large whose strength lies in the diversity of its people; its various but mutually cooperative ethnicities which has ensured the victory of Obama. When Martin Luther made his famous “I have a Dream” speech, it was a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. It was a dream that one day the American nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." There is no doubt that the blacks have excelled tremendously in various fields of human endeavor in the United States and elsewhere in the world. The blacks have risen above others in the field of science, invention, sports, medicine, entertainment etc. But it appeared that all these feats were dulled because the ultimate power in the affairs of men is the political power. This political power has eluded the black man in, unarguably, the world’s strongest and richest democracy- the USA. The Barack Obama presidency will turn all this around. His ascendancy to the presidency of the USA is a prophetic affirmation of the Nkrumah sermon, “Seek ye first the political freedom and power and all other things will follow.” It is only by acquiring political power that we can consolidate the gains made by blacks in the various fields of human endeavor; build on them, create a world that is less volatile and based on race or creed and point the way out of the present world disorder and man’s inclination for self-destruction. This is the challenge before Barack Obama; the challenge before the USA. Obama has shown throughout the campaigns that he is capable of leading America to the next level. What is left for the American people and the world is to rally round this phenomenon called Barack Obama in order to achieve the true American dream. Therein lies the strength of the USA as the world’s strongest and developed democracy. Obama's philosophy of race indict residual and institutional racism, but also celebrate white people and black people alike who are able to overcome the vice and chart a new path for society. Those lessons ought to apply not only to America, but to the rest of the world as well, in the apt description of the global face of Obama's extended family as a miniature portrait of the world. References:
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