Obama and Latin America

In his second term, President Barack Obama appears more assertive. Obviously, it is the time to clearly mark his politics and try to implant ideas he conceived in order to steer the United States to a state of well-being.

Those who follow him in Latin America hoped his State of the Union address before Congress on Wednesday would discuss Latin America to some extent. Yeah right! Obama disappointed those people. He did not even devote a couple of paragraphs to outlining a policy regarding the region. Tangentially (barely) one assumes that he did that when he reiterated his interest in introducing immigration reform in order to legalize close to 11 million people; a large majority of those now established in his country have Latin American roots.

It would seem that he does not have any policies for Latin America. Despite this he is building his own future for the United States. This is frustrating if you take into account the historical commitment to beat out a path next to the United States.

However, one has to recognize Obama’s determination to restore confidence in his nation, how he reconstructs it in the middle of the restoration of his economy. His State of the Union address gives optimism to Americans, who have seen how, under his administration, the nation has risen from the crisis left behind by his recent predecessors.

He uses the same ambition to restore confidence in the United States as a place for investment, to reconvert sources of production, betting on clean energy and accepting the need to halt environmental degradation. And he uses his ambition to reaffirm the United States’ role on a global level, with an emphasis on persuasive but firm policies, under the insignia of its vision of democracy.

President Obama can inspire people from Latin America and the Caribbean by demanding development and progress by their own means.