Victory secured, Obama has a lot of work ahead to translate his stirring rhetoric into concrete policy, writes Bassem Hassan* Now that the once unthinkable idea of a black man occupying the Oval Office is only two months away from becoming a reality, what's next? It goes without saying that Liberal America has indulged itself since the announcement of the outcome of the 2008 presidential elections in a self- congratulating euphoria on what it insists is America reaching closure in its passionate and wild love affair with white supremacy. While most black Americans will not subscribe to this rosy reading of the event, they will continue celebrating in the hope that 20 January 2009 will not prove to be a false dawn. Other minorities will also joyfully entertain the idea that one of theirs might make it to the White House too, one day. Probably the only person in the victorious camp who feels the need to cut his celebrations short is Barack Hussein Obama himself. Not only does he have to form a transition team before his inauguration, but more importantly Obama -- more so than any other person -- must be aware of how difficult it is to translate the slogans of his campaign that inspired millions of various backgrounds into policies and concrete action plans. As he explained in his acceptance speech, "The road ahead will be long [and the] climb will be steep" and "getting there", wherever that might be, will not happen in "one year or even one term". These comments don't have to be understood necessarily as the president- elect going back already on promises made or an early start to the 2012 campaign. Rather one can interpret them as recognition of the daunting task ahead of President Obama, if he were to meet the expectations of those who saw in his victory the beginning of a different America and who are looking for more than just the same old policies in new packaging. The fountainhead of his trouble might turn out to be his own party and its corporate sponsors who spent tens of millions of dollars on the Democratic National Convention and donated more to its representatives and senators who will be controlling Congress for the next few years. Needless to say, these corporations also contributed generously to Obama's campaign, and their CEOs must be planning to cash in on their investment, especially during these "difficult" times. While the Democratic Party had no other option but to rally around Obama during the elections, this is not the case anymore, and if pitted against its sponsors the party probably knows which side it will take. However, without curbing the excesses of corporate power the 44th president of the United States will not be able to deal effectively with the economic crisis and meet the aspirations of his supporters. Pundits will most likely argue back and forth for some time over the similarities and differences between the current crisis and that of the 1930s. But one thing is certain: the grip of corporations, not to mention the military-industrial-media complex, on the lives of ordinary citizens and the fortunes of politicians has only grown firmer over the years. In other words, as president, Obama might not have the same leverage F D Roosevelt had and subsequently might not be able to forge a new deal that would please the majority of his constituency. Yet, this challenge is not totally insurmountable if Obama is willing to go beyond conventional electoral politics. After all he does not owe much of his victory to the party machine of the Democrats, but rather to the thousands of young volunteers who put their trust in him. It is precisely this movement that constitutes Obama's main political asset. Now it is up to him to choose whether to work with this movement to transform not only the Democratic Party but also American politics in general, or just to use it to improve his standing within the existing structures. But if his record during the campaign, especially after securing his party's nomination, is any indication of which road President Obama will take when having to choose between going along with the establishment or going against it, no one should hold their breath. Furthermore, the appointees and nominees to his transition team are a sign that Obama, unlike those who voted him into power, prefers persons with experience in the corridors of power in Washington. Regrouping Bill Clinton's team actually makes one wonder whether Obama has missed the message sent by voters who picked him in the primaries over Hillary. Many of those outside the United States who prayed for Obama's victory will not be thrilled to see Clinton's team back. After all, predatory practices have not been a peculiarity of the Bush administration. Clinton's administration had its own share of these, as many Serbs and the mothers of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children who were killed by the murderous sanctions that Clinton championed can testify. Needless to say, once sworn in, Obama will have to deal with numerous international issues, including the urgent task of restructuring the international financial system. However, the ultimate test of his presidency on the international stage will be Iraq. Obama's promise to withdraw from Iraq helped to propel him into the White House, but limiting the change in US policy towards Iraq to pulling US troops out will be inadequate. The US owes Iraq much more. For the last two decades it has been systematically destroying the Iraqi state, fuelling sectarian tensions, expropriating the country's wealth, and violating the basic human rights of millions of Iraqis. Consequently, it has a moral obligation to help in rebuilding this country and preserving its territorial integrity, despite the fact that the latter is not on the agenda of the vice- president-elect. The United States cannot shrug off its moral responsibility by just withdrawing from Iraq, the dire need for the latter notwithstanding. This would amount more to the new president washing his hands rather than actually undoing the mistakes -- to put it mildly -- of his predecessors, and would be very much US foreign policy as usual. Somalia is not such a distant example. The evening of 4 November 2008 was indeed historic. However, as the first black American president succinctly described it, "This victory alone is not the change" that many, not only in the United States but all over the world, aspire to. It is rather "the chance... to make this change". As a candidate, Obama stirred a lot of enthusiasm and one can only hope -- despite the pessimism of intellect -- it will not evaporate during his presidency. * The writer is lecturer in the Political Science Department at the British University in Egypt.
