Barack Obama – A Look Forward

“I, Barack Hussein Obama…” On January 20th, 2009, while the 44th president of the United States delivers his inauguration speech, history will hover above Washington D.C. Man of the year for 2008, the first black to occupy the White House will also be the man of 2009, as his first steps, his first decisions and his first words are scrutinized from one end of the planet to the other. How will he act on the international scene? How will he react to a major crisis? A month before he begins his term, no one can say for certain, and his choices for his international team do not clear up the mystery. Henry Kissinger, who is familiar with this area, wished him well. The potential for internal disputes is very real for this dream team whose members have, at times, disagreed with each other, as well as with the new president himself.

“I like strong personalities with strong ideas,” explains Obama. Unquestionably, he has his wish. Hillary Clinton, secretary of state: during the primaries, she expressed doubt about the candidate’s abilities as commander in chief. Robert Gates, the secretary of defense, has 26 years with the CIA behind him, which included quite a few dirty tricks. He was in charge of training the mouhajidine Afghans in the 1980’s, and he also kept secret the Iran-Contra scandal. Unlike Obama, he supported the invasion of Iraq from the start. James Jones, national security chief: He campaigned for John McCain. Joe Biden, vice president-elect: He was recruited in large part for his experience in foreign policy, in which he expects to play a large part. Susan Rice, ambassador to the United Nations: She abandoned Hillary Clinton for Barack Obama during the race for the White House, and they say she has not been forgiven for it.

A team of stars, composed of individuals as talented as they are famous, and it is not even certain that they share the interest in strong, soft power – more diplomacy and aid, much less show of force – that Barack Obama hopes to demonstrate in his actions beyond the United States. Rice and Biden had in effect stated their support of military intervention in Darfur, and Hillary Clinton was, while her husband was in the White House, an advocate for American interference in the Balkans. It will be interesting to observe Obama’s reaction when confronted by a major humanitarian crisis in a country labeled vulnerable that indirectly threatens the security of the U.S., all with strong scrutiny by the media. Will he be a realist or an idealist? The financial crisis, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the desire to return the U.S. image to a more pacifist one would seem to lean toward non-intervention. But American “values,” which the new president says he supports, demand that the U.S. intervene in cases of massive war crimes and at any hint of genocide, under threat of being accused of complicit indifference. All this is, in the end, a matter of political will – a quality Barack Obama has more than demonstrated.

Aymen al-Zawahiri, the spokesman for Al-Qaida, is not mistaken. A black American president, with a Muslim middle name, who promotes a staged retreat in Iraq, and a dialog with Iran, who promises to invest in the Middle East and plans to begin a sincere discourse in a Muslim capital, all the while announcing that he will prevail in Afghanistan and in the tribal zones of Pakistan, represents a grave danger to the jihadists. He also felt the need, in a November audio message, to call Obama a domestic negro, and a black slave. This white Egyptian from the Cairo middle class managed to perform the a great disservice to the “cause.” Al-Qaida is known as a terrorist organization. Now it is also a racist one.