4th of July is the day Americans celebrate their independence from British rule. If Barack Obama wins tomorrow, 4th November will be America's Liberation Day : Liberation from the sins of the past.
If Barack Obama wins, 4th July 1776 and 4th November 2008 will be spoken in the same breath for ages to come.
I was in Krabi, Thailand for the last 3 days and Krabi is as far away from world politics as Prada is from the slums of Rio de Jeneiro. Or so I thought. The coffee shops,beaches and souvenir shops all had the air of Barack Obama. Spoken in many languages, I could catch 'Obama' now and then.It is indeed a momentous moment. People just can't stop talking about Obama. Its so intoxicating.
The French and other Europeans who traditionally have been a little uncomfortable with American moral leadership is probably throwing cynical glances at Washington. Can America live up to its rhetoric of equality and social justice? Can Americans prove to the world that they can indeed live what they preach and preach what they in fact live?
The Africans....well...its obvious isn't it? They have yet another name to put into the history books alongside Mandela and Koffi Annan.
The rest of the world, yes...its all about Obama.
Its probably not very nice being Obama right now. The weight of expectations must be so overwhelming that it would have paralaysed any other man or woman. But then Obama is not 'any other man'. Obama is Obama. Barack Obama is destined to be here...now...to make a difference. The great man theory of leadership will have a brand new icon to study.
But lets be realistic for a moment. Unless all the polling agencies have been fooling us and unless all the opinion leaders have absolutely missed the mark, Barack Obama will become the next president of America.Then what?
Can he change the insane way world financial markets are 'governed' today? Can he bring a semblance of sanity to speculative trades? Can he push for the birth of a world economy anchored on real value as opposed to paper value? Can he make insular American policy makers see that the only way to maintain a prosperous America is making other trading partners prosperous? Can he make Americans and the rest of us understand that it was never a zero-sum-game?
Tough job for a man. Even for Barack Obama.
I am not going to be bitter and disappointed 5 years from now like how I suspect many others will be. I am admittedly pessimistic to the breath and depth of change that Obama can bring because that 'change' which we want Obama to usher-in is within our power to give him the permission to do so. I doubt he will get it. At least not from the Russians, Chinese, Indians, Cubans, Iranians and the French. Many others will also refuse that permission as once the romance of Obama dies away, the age old parochial and self-centred nature of world business and politics will once again hold court. I find it ironic to read in the Times Magazine on my way back from Krabi that Obama is viewed as The One to change the world. Whatever happened to inter-connected and globalized world? If the world economy and its fate is indeed inter-connected why then we have suddenly abdicated our roles to Obama?
As I said, I will not be bitter even if Obama fails o live up to his promise. For me, Obama is a work in progress. He is an experiment in the same mould as many other socio-political experiments of our times. His victory (if it is to be) will reverberate more in the hearts and minds of man than in the financial markets.
It is fitting that I will be witnessing this momentous moment in world politics (and I hope also in international business), from Singapore. The land where a single man and his vision made all the difference. I wonder what Lee Kuan Yew is thinking right now about Obama and his chances?
Win or loose, Obama is a truly wining idea. The idea of Democracy.
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