Political and Atomic Disarmament

Obama has succeeded in healing some of the wounds he suffered from the thrashing of Nov. 2.

2010 closes with encouraging news on nuclear issues. After the uneasiness about the nuclear capacity of North Korea and Iran, two nuclear powers, Russia and the United States, set a good example by approving a new disarmament agreement.

It is a prolongation of the first consensus — START and SORT — that since 1991 has permitted the gradual reduction of nuclear warheads. There were 6,000 before, there are 2,200 now and in 2017 there will be 1,550. Furthermore, it reduces the number of missiles, bombers and nuclear submarines.

The treaty sat dormant in the U.S. Capitol Building, blocked by the Republicans since September. Miraculously, Barack Obama was able to convince 13 opposition members of Congress to vote in favor of the project. “[I]t’s not a victory for me,” the president rushed to say, “it’s a victory for the American people.”

It’s true that it is a victory for Americans and for all people on earth, in general. But it is also a triumph for Obama, who at the end of the year succeeded in healing some of the wounds from the thrashing he suffered in the Nov. 2 elections, thanks to various successes he had in passing legislation. With the disarmament treaty with Russia, we must also include the reversal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which allowed the presence of homosexual members of the armed forces only if they concealed their sexual preferences. Obama set out a reform that consolidates the equality of gays and lesbians with other members of the Army and abolishes the embarrassing silence clause. The Senate approved the reform by a wide margin, 65-31, when 23 Republican members of Congress added themselves to the Democratic coalition.

The White House also succeeded in passing legislation that would make the government responsible for the medical costs of the workers that cleaned up the area of New York devastated by the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001. The Republicans blocked the project for two weeks, but the pressure of public opinion obligated them to approve it — although, not before the number of benefits given to the recipients was reduced.

These projects demonstrate that it’s impossible to achieve another disarmament, that of sectarianism, to reach bipartisan agreements. But it also reveals the intransigence of a Republican Party committed to prohibiting Obama from acquiring the political fuel necessary for a potential re-election in two years.