Perhaps, never in the recent history has an election been followed as closely & intensely as the election of Barack Obama to arguably the most powerful office on earth - Office of The President of the USA. Perhaps, there has not been such celebrations in the US particularly & the world in general, of the victory of a Presidential candidate, as has been with Obama's victory. Albeit too early to judge Obama, fact remains that his inaugural speech yesterday (20 Jan 2009) was awe inspiring. Most importantly, it showed the stuff Obama is made of, as could be judged by the choice of his words in his speech. First of all, he tried to assuage the fears of other Nations of America's foreign policy by reassuring that USA is a friend of Nations & not an adversary. This clear message was very necessary especially after the 2 wars that have gone totally haywire & against what perhaps the US intended to achieve. The Iraq war, to say the least, was a major policy blunder. Equally tragic has been the war on terror in Afghanistan, which doesn't seem to be seeing light in an endless tunnel. Nobody seems to have any clue on the whereabouts of Bin Laden (except perhaps his host country, Pakistan) & his current status. It is indeed very strange that the most powerful Nation in the world, with all its ways & means, enormous intelligence network, leverage with most of the countries of the world, has not been able to apprehend Bin Laden all these years. It is a different matter altogether, who nurtured & bred Bin Laden.
Through out his speech, Obama kept mentioning about the "unity of purpose" to make the US strong & resilient, bring the economy back on track, reform the education system, make health care affordable, etc. He showed what kind of a leader he is by showering praises on the founding fathers of the US, the sacrifices they made, the values they nurtured & on which the most powerful Nation stands, creating opportunities for every US citizen to pursue his interests fully & to live happily. Obama, in my opinion, was more than being generous by lauding the "services" rendered to the Nation by his predecessor & for the smooth transition. He kept reiterating about the onerous task ahead & the enormity of the work at hand in trying to rebuild the economy, & root out corruption by sending clear message to people in Government who don't encourage dissent & criticism saying they are on the wrong side of history. He was equally assertive about political freedom (perhaps directed at some communist countries which, in the name of being a Republic, actually curbs freedom) which is perhaps THE MOST IMPORTANT freedom required by a civil society in the modern era. Never before in the history of humankind has political freedom been so important than now. The consequences of political freedom can be seen in India itself, where, until 1989 we had single party majority. Now, with greater information dissemination, far more mature electorate, better educated people, awareness of fundamental rights, etc., people are exercising the power of the ballot more vehemently to overthrow elected Governments mercilessly. The recently concluded J&K elections is a lesson in that sense. Braving the weather, the warnings of terror groups, & going against the separatists, the J&K electorate voted to power the NC - INC coalation Government. This is the power of political freedom. It can do wonders. It can keep the check on political unilateralism.
Coming back to Obama's speech, his words - safeguarding the freedom of the Nation & handing it over safely to future generations - are a reflection of how much Obama & the USA values freedom & respects it. Of course, it can be debated at length how much US values & respects other Nations' freedom. Nevertheless, handing over freedom safely to future generations were truly inspiring words. Truly remarkable speech & what makes it all the more special is the extempore nature of the speech.
What lessons have we, Indians, to learn from Obama & the US? Let's discuss in the next part of this piece...watchout for this space :-)
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