Obama’s Legacy:
The Audacity of Change.
The Presidential campaigns are finally over; and no doubt, the most qualified candidate under the circumstances prevailed. For all practical purposes, Barack Obama’s election and positive outlook of the electoral map is a historical leap forward and politically significant.
However, given the enormity of political and economic challenges such as persistent high unemployment, educational decay, growing national debt, environmental devastation, disastrous foreign policy and recessionary economycaused by eight years of incompetence, cronyism and ideological dogmatism, one cannot realistically expect rapid resolutions. However, the path to recovery must begin immediately and boldly.
Historically, successive Democratic and Republican administrations while subsidizing and cushioning “the well-connected” groups have paid little attention to the economically and socially marginalized sectors. As one noted, politicians receive votes from the poor and money from the rich with the intention of protecting each from the other. The recent government bail-out of financial institutions while leaving vast majority of borrowers without protection is reflective of such attitudes.
In response to the monumental challenges, the Democratic Party cannot afford indecisiveness and conformity for the sake of uniformity. Condemnation of the profligacy of the Bush administration and the Republican Party will not be enough. The message of change must be relentlessly pursued both in form and in spirit.
To preserve public trust vested in Democrats, President Obama and the Democratic congress must pursue anti-draconian foreign policies that have shaped political platform of the Republican administrations of the past few decades. Unilateralism must be replaced with aggressive multilateralism in addressing issues such as nuclear proliferation, sectarian violence, secular chauvinism, and immigration policies. Religiously based executive orders such as ban on stem cell research should be revoked. Anti-environmental policies such as off-shore drilling must give way to more advanced form of energy alternatives. By providing more financial incentive to educators and increasing budget allocations to schools, the standard of education can be elevated. The current healthcare industry must be overhauled to provide basic healthcare coverage for millions of uninsured who might end-up exhausting healthcare providers’ resources through unpaid medical bills of otherwise preventive medical conditions. Military adventurism and the corporate sponsored war industry must give way to employment generating programs such as repairing faltering infrastructure, building roads, bridges and mass-transportation systems.
Interestingly, Republican talking heads who for the past eight years have cheered the Bush administration in pursuing its politics of rightwing ideology and economic exclusivity without paying much attention to others, are now singing the songs of “unity,” “mutuality,” and “governing from the Center.”
Obama administration’s legacy, aside from its historical and symbolic significance, rests on acting boldly, as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson did, without being intimidated by the right-wing prophecy. It must reach out from the position of millions who stood in long lines to cast their vote in hope of actual transformation of the broken government, and not merely cosmetic changes.
Democrats must not only be proud of what they have achieved, but more importantly must relentlessly pursue a campaign of constructive criticism of the Obama administration and hold it accountable for the policies promised and evolving politics. Colors fade quickly. What remains is progression that years down the road could stand as attestation to a generation of politicians, who fulfilled its motto of “YES, WE CAN.”
