Excerpts from an editorial in The Sunday Times (Jan. 18):
Tomorrow America’s first black president will be inaugurated, carrying the hopes of the nation and much of the world on his slim shoulders. More than a million people will crowd into Washington for a moment of history when for once the hope is likely to be matched by the rhetoric. At a time of deep economic pessimism and concern about America’s role in the world, Barack Obama offers optimism and an intangible and possibly incoherent sense of a new beginning.
It is not just because the new president is an African-American. His Cabinet looks like one of those Benetton advertisements from the 1990s, with people of all colors and races represented. It seems to spell the end of the hegemony of the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants and America’s coming of age. The question is how much Obama can surf this wave of optimism and usher in a new era. His first and biggest challenge is one no new president could relish — the dire state of the economy. America lost 2.8m jobs last year and roughly 1m in the past two months alone. The US banking system remains in crisis despite a $700 billion government rescue. His first act as president will be to launch a fiscal stimulus of mind-boggling size, possibly as much as $1 trillion.
If the economy recovers relatively soon as a result of the massive government intervention and pump-priming, not only will he be credited with clearing up the mess left by George W. Bush but he will be free to get on with the rest of his domestic program.
Obama’s biggest immediate challenge is in Afghanistan. In the meantime, he has to hope Iraq does not flare up again and that the Iran nuclear question remains one for diplomacy rather than military conflict. His drive for a Middle East peace deal is not the first by a US president and nor will it be the last.
The world needs optimism and hope. With a fair wind, Obama has a chance to provide it.
