Good Luck, President Obama!

It is good that America finally has it’s first black president. Some of the racial division in America will be healed by this, although I am not naive enough to believe that racial discrimination and racism will magically disappear overnight. I have been impressed by Obama’s excellent handing of the new media environment and his use of the massive networking made possible by the internet. He also has formidable oratory skills, which is always a useful attribute for a president, and one of the previous president’s most notable lacks. He will, of course, need a great deal more than good communication skills as he embarks upon the impossible task of meeting the expectations he has created.

I suspect “Change you can believe in” will quickly become “Change that will annoy you” or, worse still, “Change that doesn’t exist”. It will be interesting to see how long it will take the MSM to change from the gushingly thrilled tone of most articles on Obama to a more critical tone as the administration repeatedly disappoints (something that is virtually inevitable given the horrendous economic circumstances). I doubt if Obama will receive anything like the opprobrium of GW Bush, unless he really stuffs up. The media, in the main, are typically kinder to Democrats than Republicans, although the bias is not as great as some right-wingers would have us believe. 

I expect him to receive little flak for the middle East, as Iraq and Gaza are currently in the process of “resolving” themselves. His chief problem will be the economy, which will almost certainly be handled badly (in fairness, I’m not really sure whether any intervention will help, anyway). As the value of his “Blame Bush” and “Blame Capitalism” cards deteriorate, the media will awake from their euphoria in much the same way as we do when we get back from our summer holidays and have to pay those bills we generated while we were away. He is going to cop a lot of flak from this no matter what he does.

There is one place where he can truly make a difference. He can do something about the festering sore known as the American Health System. That millions of people have little or no access to health care in the wealthiest country on Earth (maybe not any more!) is an absolute disgrace. This is a fixable problem. It is not possible to turn the current system into a public health system, but universal health insurance is doable. Even in the midst of a tanking economy, it can be done – if Obama is willing to put aside self-interest and partisanship and do the right things, no matter how unpopular. If he wants to leave a “legacy”, this is one of the few areas he may be able to achieve something of lasting good for Americans.

Clinton fluffed it. Few republicans would even consider attempting it. Perhaps Obama is made of sterner stuff.

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