Obama and the Harsh Reality

Before arriving in Washington this past Sunday, President-elect Barack Obama, who has been very careful to observe all proper protocol with respect to his predecessor, had to confront a crisis of his own making. Obama is right when he refuses to comment on the Israeli offensive in Gaza. The United States has only one president at a time and only he determines North American foreign policy. Something different, though, are the decisions that Obama has made since November 4th, decisions that are fully and only his responsibility. Among these it’s worth noting the naming of those who will form part of his administration. There’s already one among those named who has withdrawn: the governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, who will no longer become the Commerce Secretary. Obama had offered him the post, an extremely relevant one given the crisis in which we are immersed, but Richardson, after having accepted the post, had to renounce it. He was pushed toward this decision by the investigation of a serious case in which he had given favors to a substantial contributor to his own electoral campaign for president. The rapidity with which the Obama team closed the investigation eloquently showed how difficult it would have been to defend the no-longer-appointed-Commerce Secretary. Obama has created a team in which he attempts to unite rival and current Democratic leaders: Biden, Clinton, Richardson. What is also missing are those personalities who can personify his electoral motto: “Change we can believe in.”