Waiting for Obama

Published in ABC
(Mexico) on 11 January 2009
by Curri Valenzuela (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Brandon Brewer. Edited by Louis Standish .
Many liberals of the world and every Spaniard optimistically await the inauguration of Barack Obama to witness, even from a distance, a historical transformation in the imperialist politics of the United States. They reason that that an African-American president who said such nice things during his electoral campaign will necessarily have to break away from the doings of his predecessors. However, all signs indicate that they will soon feel just as disheartened as the so-called "artistas de la ceja" (pro-Zapatero group of artists) feel angry for being ignored by Zapatero when they ask him to withdraw the Spanish ambassador from Israel to protest the invasion of Gaza, and that also the promised change is limited to image more than substance with respect to what is resolved in the White House.

The only actions undertaken by the next president of the U.S. before taking possession have sounded the alarms among the wisest of the European left. Obama did not even mutter a word following the Israeli invasion of Gaza and his argument that there is only one U.S. president at a time loses weight when he later presents, as he has done, his own economic plan that, on top of that, is based on a massive tax reduction for the average American, a taboo for any “liberal” that prides themselves on being one. Neither does it help that there have emerged shadows of corruption around a man that seemed to be so honest: his Democratic colleague in Chicago, and the governor of Illinois, auctioning off Obama's Senate seat, as well as the undisclosed prosecution of one of his top aides for corruption have left Obama tainted before even arriving at the White House.


Muchos «progres» del mundo y todos los españoles aguardan esperanzados la toma de posesión de Barak Obama para ser testigos, aún en la distancia, de un vuelco histórico en las políticas «imperialistas» de los Estados Unidos. Un presidente de raza negra que dijo cosas tan bonitas durante su campaña electoral tendrá necesariamente que romper con lo que han hecho sus antecesores, razonan. Todos los indicios apuntan, sin embargo, a que pronto se sentirán tan descorazonados como enfadados se encuentran por aquí los llamados «artistas de la ceja» porque Zapatero no les hace caso cuando le solicitan que retire al embajador de España en Israel como protesta por la invasión de Gaza y que quizás el cambio prometido se limite a la imagen más que a la sustancia de lo que se dirime en la Casa Blanca.
Las únicas acciones emprendidas por el próximo presidente norteamericano antes de tomar posesión han disparado las alarmas entre los más sagaces de la izquierda europea. Obama no ha dicho esta boca es mía tras la invasión israelí de Gaza y su argumento de que solo hay una presidente norteamericano a la vez se cae por su propio peso cuando luego presenta, como ha hecho, un plan económico propio que, para colmo, se basa en la reducción masiva de impuestos para el norteamericano medio, un tabú para cualquier «progre» que se precie de serlo. Y tampoco ayudan las sombras de corrupción surgidas en torno a un hombre que parecía tan recto: lo de su compañero de partido en Chicago, el gobernador de Illinois, subastando el escaño que él deja en el Senado y el procesamiento por corrupción de uno de sus principales ministros in péctore le dejan tocado en ese capítulo antes de llegar a la Casa Blanca
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