Message to Obama: Don’t Fail Us

It is difficult to put into perspective the euphoria that the beginning of the presidency of Barack Obama is causing in the United States and in the rest of the world. Two things explain it: a terrible economic crisis and the personality of a man, who is very young, and assures us that the future will be better.

The promise of Barack is almost religious. More than a hero, Obama presents himself to us as a savior (of jobs, of houses, of peace, of human rights, of the most just causes). And the truth is that it will be impossible that he meets all of the expectations that have been placed on him.

But this comes after. Now is the moment of party, of change, of putting to flight our hopes and dreams. This moment reminds me a lot of the enthusiasm that was present in Germany after the fall of the Berlin wall. It was November of 1989 and I had the clear sensation that the world, right then, was changing. With each hammering of this wall (built in 1961) the foundations of various dictatorships in Eastern Europe and decades of repression were falling.

I still keep in my memory the little pieces of this wall that I personally pulled out with a chisel. In the same way, I have on my Iphone photos of the campaign of the first African-American to win the presidency of the United States.

It does not stop being incredible that Barack Obama lives in a house that was built, partly, by African-American slaves more than 200 years ago. This is, for me, the clearest sign of progress.

The United States, in one election, corrected an error of centuries. Yes, there is still racism and discrimination in this country. But the lesson from Obama to all the North American children is that if he could, anyone could also do it. (I doubt, however, that this lesson could be applied in many other countries).

The taking of power of Obama reminds me, also, of the happiness of millions of Mexicans when the PRI (Revolutionary Institutional Party) lost the presidency in 2000. There was screaming at the zocalo in the capital. 71 years of the criminal and authoritarian governments were ending. I always thought that I would die with the PRI in the presidency, but it wasn’t like this and I celebrated by playing football in the heart of the zocalo. No one said anything to me. On the contrary, many joined in the game, while the police looked on, astonished.

And when Vicente Fox, the candidate of the National Action Party, came out to recognize his extraordinary victory, the people shouted: “Don’t fail us!” Six years later, we must reflect, Fox failed many Mexicans. He was a much better candidate than a president. But that July 2, 2000 changed history and I still remember it.

With Barack something similar is happening, although, differently from Fox, the expectations extend to the whole world. There are a lot of people who have lost their optimism, in that Barack seems to them at times like a magician who grants wishes.

This is, one must say, the best moment for Obama. It is before he begins to make controversial decisions, becomes a human and returns to earth.

And it is right after we leave behind a president who was extremely incapable and unpopular. George W. Bush is the worst president in history, since they began taking surveys.

The hope is that Barack will be a clean slate. But Bush leaves a horrible legacy; a terrorist attack that took him by surprise, the unfulfilled promise of capturing Osama Bin Laden, a war in Iraq that began with lies, the worst economic recession in eight decades, the sad image of a government that allowed torture, the incapacity of a leader who didn’t know how to rescue his own people after the landing of Hurricane Katrina, and the most anti-immigrant era that the United States has had, based on the number of raids and deportations.

The place of W., now it is clear, was always in a ranch in Texas and not in the White House. But now is the moment to look towards the future. Obama offers a moment of change that happens, at most, twice in a generation. The challenge is gigantic.

I remember perfectly the moment in which Barack came onto television to recognize his victory over John McCain last November 4th. He was not smiling. He was calm. He was a man who, in that very moment, seemed to show his first white hair.

Behind him were the promises of the campaign and suddenly, he was listening to the shouting of those who elected him. He knew that they were saying to him “Don’t fail us.”