Radio Australia Today Editorial

One day to go. Barack Obama’s Weight Grows

20 January 2009

Not his actual weight. His girth is fine. Even a little too slim maybe.

But the weight of expectation. Watching the faces of the crowd in Chicago on election night last November,  it was as if a new messiah had been revealed.

Two messages were clearly being mixed in that very charged time. The message that an African-American had finally achieved his land’s highest office, was entwined in the belief that this particular African-American would be able to fix America’s financial woes, and straighten his country’s  foreign affairs.

Barack Obama will make mistakes. He must be expected to make mistakes. There will also be things that he will unreasonably be blamed for. When unemployment or inflation rises; when another big company goes under, Obama will be criticised. But however right or wrong this blame, the gloss will come off him. It is inevitable.

Yesterday I wrote about another great hope, Australia’s Gough Whitlam, who was a great hope for Australia. He was finished off by a few rising prices and closing factories, a victim of a world recession not of his making. Going back even further, again in Australia, and James Scullin came to power in October 1929. In a case of shocking timing, the Wall Street crash happened two days later, sparking the Great Depression. Scullin was turfed from office after just one short term. All the wishes of all the King’s horses could not save his shining and hopeful image. He was overtaken.

Barack Obama too is not coming to office in good times. His presidency will be defined by a difficult legacy left by his predecessor. His own legacy will be  based on how he dealt with these times.

History will be hard. Even if Obama drags his country back to prosperity, he will be remembered just as much for how he dealt with climate change, perhaps even more than for his health reforms and  foreign policies. He only has four, and possibly eight years to do it. It’s a brief time. Every decision will count.

In eight years or less we’ll know if he was the man for the times, or just a man who knew how to make a killer speech.

                                                                     – Phil