Yesterday, the eyes of the world were on Washington as Barack Hussein Obama took the oath of office and became the 44th president of the United States of America — and the most powerful man on earth.
There is so much hope pinned on him. Hope among Americans that he will give them pride in their country again after the disastrous presidency of George W. Bush; hope that he will end the economic crisis, end the shame of Guantanamo, withdraw from Iraq without leaving a dangerous power vacuum, find a similar way out of Afghanistan and, after so many efforts and so many failures by so many of his predecessors, that he will bring peace to the Middle East. The scale of hope among Americans was seen in the unprecedented numbers of people on the streets of Washington yesterday and in the massive 80 percent opinion poll approval ratings. Those are hopes shared around the world. The dream is that under President Obama there will be a new Washington — a Washington that embraces collaboration, that seeks dialogue rather than confrontation.
If Arab and Muslim eyes were less focused on Washington yesterday it is because the pain of Gaza is too raw. Even so, we too have high hopes that, after eight years of catastrophic American engagement in the region, there will be a more balanced, more intelligent, more collaborative approach from Washington. For more than half a century, the US has treated the region like an errant imperial possession that needs to be taken in hand, but these last eight years have been the worst.
Perhaps there is too much hope, too many expectations. Hope also carries the seeds of its own nemesis. Hope unfulfilled can be reborn as bitter resentment. The unavoidable truth is that the new president is not going to be able to deliver on all his promises, let alone everyone else’s expectations of him that exceed by far anything he promised.
Yesterday was a day of hope, a day to dream. Today, the crowds have gone, the flags have come down, but, half a world away, Gaza still smolders, insurgents still plot in Iraq, the Taleban grow stronger in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Guantanamo remains America’s shame. It is time for Obama to get down to work, to deliver on the promises he made, the hopes he kindled. He no longer has the excuse of “one president at a time.” He has to start making decisions — difficult decisions. The economy obviously heads the agenda; so too must the Middle East after what has happened in Gaza. But difficult as those decisions will be, he starts his presidency with one towering advantage that no previous president who has involved himself with the Middle East ever enjoyed. He starts with a clean slate and has the good will of everyone involved.
There is, however, one crucial point. If we in the rest of the world project all our expectations on President Obama — fixing the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, the international economy and the rest of the world’s issues — then we are the problem. That is the old thinking. Expecting the Oval Office to come up with all the solutions puts the US back at the center of international decision-making.
The focus of our expectations has to change as much as Washington’s policies.
