And Obama?

The election of Obama means much more than a simple expression of opinion about Bush, but not so far as to think that the basic strategic interests of the United States will change. They worry about looking for substitute sources of energy, redistribution and better education, and health for its citizens, which will smack up against a topic that wasn't on the agenda: the necessity to construct a new international order that corresponds with globalization.

If the polls are confirmed, Obama is the president of the United States. It's not so simple a thing, as that shameful racism, which, in the past, has given the lie to such polls during less-important elections, must be overcome. During the polling, many people were ashamed to say that they wouldn't vote for a black man.

For those of us who don't live there, what can we expect from an ideological Democrat like Obama? It would be enough if he would spend less on wars and more on projects such as the Alliance for Progress that Kennedy developed. We should expect, as well, that his attempt to create secure jobs for North America doesn't lead to a neo-protectionism that no one wants to go back to.

For Colombia, his support of the Free Trade Agreement is fundamentally important. Our manufacturing and commercial structure has worked for it. This isn't about political speeches; this is about detailed realities, which businesses and governments have been working on in depth. The Ministry of Foreign Commerce, perhaps the most technical of all, has put a lot of serious work into this under various governments, in an attempt to integrate us into the worldwide production and distribution network.

The treatment that the United States gives to our neighbors can help bring harmony to the region, but Chávez shouldn't fool himself about Obama. The expectations created by his speech about crisis and the substitution of oil for other energy sources has brought the price of oil down to 60 dollars, while the Venezuelan budget is operating under an estimate of 80. That, in fact, cuts the legs out from under populism.

Obama will be decisive in altering the worldwide agenda, on a stage in which there is no going back from globalization. What's coming isn't a new form of protectionism, but rather the transformation of the international institutions formed at Bretton Woods and the creation of others, so that the world, accepting globalization, can function better.

The stage which confronts President Obama, characterized by the loss of leadership--economic, not military--of the United States, the surging forth of China, India, Brazil and others, and a recession on his doorstep, will force him to look for a balancing point in his program, in which the international economic and institutional agenda will take priority.

This past week, the restricted democracy of the the G7 forced a pained Bush to convoke the G20 in order to temper the effects of the crisis. For their part, leaders such as Sarkozy, Brown and Strauss, the director of the International Monetary Fund, committed themselves to the need for creating a new worldwide governance with institutions that have resources and "teeth" to bring order to the economic and financial fluctuations of globalization. It's the beginning of a new world order, in which the United States will be the principal actor. Good luck, and keep a steady hand, President Obama. We, the citizens of the world, have elected you in advance.

Aside: Last week, a member of Congress proposed the administering of a polygraph test to members of the military. In order that it might come out cheaper, in this time of austere budgets, we should administer such a test to all members of Congress. Why not?