Obama: The Magical Black King

Of the Three Kings [in the Bible, who visited Jesus after his birth], the Black King, Balthasar, is the one most favored by children who trust in his infinite prodigality and capacity to meet their requests. As if the Black King had some special powers to always meet the expectations placed on him.

That is what occurs to adults with Barack Obama, the other magical black king. Obama is expected to take us out of crisis in less than six months, while it took Roosevelt more than 10 years. He is trusted to have a great strategy to, once and for all, settle Afghanistan, a country where British, Soviet and NATO allies have failed for 100 years, to draw the troops from Iraq without causing more shame, to close Guantánamo without, in the process, allowing terrorists to escape, to teach the Iranians the errors of their ways.

And of course, the wondrous implementation of quelling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which has remained unresolved since the time of Moses. Perhaps he has at least learned a thing or two through the handling of the crisis in Gaza; that brute force will not solve anything, and that in this particular case, it has only served to poison the hatreds between neighbors. At most, he could attempt to resume talks in hopes of cooling the never-ending bitterness between the two.

It is ensured that Gaza will have first priority but the same was said after the attacks in Mumbai, when it seemed that the mission was to solve the urgent Indo-Pakistani conflict. All the most wretched corners of the globe rely on Obama to release them from the oblivion they rot in. Not even the real magical black king, Balthasar, could implement all of these things.

Although Obama is globalized and well-traveled, everything indicates that, following the misadventures in Iraq and other failed missions, the U.S. administration will live a far less ambitious stage outside that of Bush. Many of those who voted for Obama expect him to focus his energies on improving their homeland and forget old dreams of grandeur. An inevitable disappointment to the world will soon arrive.