Barack Obama

During January 2009, Barack Obama took up his presidency and since his election I have been thinking about what this means for all of us.
Margaret and I come from the generation who, when we were young, marched and protested in support of the Civil Rights Movement in America. We sang our protest songs along to the records of Pete Seeger and Joan Baez whilst we watched the struggle for equality on the buses, in the schools and the voting booths. How well I remember listening, with the hair rising on the back of my neck, to Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. Also, the shock and despair on the day he died. As the years have passed, many of the injustices have been righted but I never believed that I would see America place a black man in the Oval Office.
So, when the election arrived, despite the polls, I still doubted that Obama would succeed. On the night, I was too tired to listen to more than two states declare. In the morning, I hesitated to switch on the news because I did not want to hear of a late Republican rally. When I finally did, I struggled to take in the fact that not only had Obama won but by an enormous margin.
From that point on, I could not take my eyes off the screen as there flowed an outpouring of joy and optimism. You knew that it was a historic moment because the enthusiasm came not just from American Democrats but also from ordinary people throughout the world. From the Far East, Kenya, Hawaii and even our own London streets. It was as if for just a short while, the world had become a better place. As the television cameras picked out Jesse Jackson, with tears streaming down his face, I found that my own cheeks were wet and my heart felt lighter.
However, since that point, I have realized that the enormous weight of expectation that he faces places him in a very difficult position. Success for his presidency will enhance the cause of ethnic minorities throughout the world but failure may damage the situation for generations to come. He has to deal with this at the same time as facing an enormous financial crisis, war on two fronts and the continuing effect of international terrorism. No matter how powerful, the risk is that his achievements will be limited by financial constraints and the fears and self-interest of lesser men. Then those extraordinary expectations could come crashing down on his head. It is a weakness of humanity that we like to build up our heroes, only to knock them down again. To give them Herculean tasks that we could not do ourselves and then blame them if they fail; even rejoice because it makes heroes more accessible if, like us, they have feet of clay.
Since we are not American, what can concerned Christians do to help turn the potential of this presidency into reality? For myself, the starting point is to find an autumnal resurrection of the idealism for righteous causes that was so strong when I was young but which the passage of time has dulled. Then, not to join the pack waiting to pull him down at the first sign of weakness. From the glimpses of the real man that we have seen through the razzmatazz of the election campaign, I suspect that the approval and support of ordinary people like us may truly empower him.
In practical terms, all of us can keep ourselves well informed so that we can understand and pray intelligently about the issues that must be faced. Also, when we perceive that Obama is working for the common good, we can pressurize our own politicians into working alongside him. Politicians are most likely to follow the course of action that they know their constituents believe in and approve of. In the world today, all nations are linked and even an American President needs good, loyal, steadfast allies. Not just ones that follow blindly but ones that sometimes, in friendship and love, are capable of saying no and offering alternatives.