Obama and the Global Reality

The U.S. president, Barack Obama, has started his second term with the precedent of the minor success of his previous term. The economic crisis, the immigration problem, unemployment, the prison at Guantánamo, crime in schools, drug consumption, the budget deficit, the very high cost of the military forces, the housing situation that lacks a stable solution, the endless political disputes with the Republican Party in Congress — all form a chain of interconnected conflicts that continue into 2013, and all signs look negative for the next four years.

The recent encounters between both sides will not produce a joint solution, while China is taking the lead slowly but surely. Common economic interests, as well as interests of other kinds, are not reconciled either. Far from it, the gap is widening: Latin America is leaving its mentorship and is narrowing its relations with Europe, which also is looking for alternatives, just like the Asian continent.

Obama is overwhelmed with issues of school safety and weapons control in his own country, along with uncontrolled immigration and its far-reaching consequences. Perhaps some other renewed leader is required, who would find a wealth of solutions to a global power in decline. There is no leader in sight from either party who presents the vision and the solutions. The common premise is U.S. superiority, which they flaunt with total uncertainty. Improvement and growth occurs in all five continents, all fighting for a solution to social problems, all of an economic and political nature and all of different magnitudes.

Consistent with this reality, regional and international structures are renewed, and they shed their animosity. Military pacts are also declared, from which the forces for peace do not hide. The tendency is negotiation and mutual respect. When the Democratic candidate soon tries to do it, it seems difficult.

Even though it is still not recognized in that same North American country, that society was capable of electing a president named Jimmy Carter, who returned the so-called Panama Canal Zone. Furthermore, he notably improved relations with the island of Cuba. The physics theory of the disintegration of the atom was proposed for scientific advancement, not for the creation of new genocidal weapons, nor for hegemony of any nature. This century needs to produce reliable signs of what the people aspire for; the United Nations must not fail, as occurred with the League of Nations.