The Obama win – a volunteer’s point of view
Yesterday evening in Bamenda, Cameroon one of those awful loud speaker cars drove through my neighbourhood.
From the ancient speakers, amid all the buzz of static, the only word I could make out was Obama.
Later in the neighbourhood I heard cheers – some were from followers of Champions League football , some were Obamamania.
This morning, everyone at work seems just that little bit happier. I’ve heard the O word repeatedly. My boss stayed up all night.
An American volunteer is proudly wearing her Obama fleece. Even as a lowly NGO worker she’d donated to his campaign and had gone door-to-door for him when last she was home.
It seems like the world is a better place today.
But for bad leaders who rush to war I would not be doing this today. I first volunteered for VSO when I decided that post Iraq I wanted nothing to do with my country.
As I have related before I met plenty of others Brits, Americans and Australians who felt the same. We were The Shame Drain. The Coalition of the Unwilling.
Blair, Bush and Howard have now all gone. Though, it should be said, not without a long innings first.
In replacing them America has, it appears, made the best choice.
Bush was the war mongering white guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Obama is young, black and a fighter.
However, none of us should vote for anyone because of the colour of their skin. I would like to think that the change America has sought is as a result of what Obama has said and what he believes and that it goes more than skin deep. His election shouldn’t be about race.
I hope that Obama can take on the building blocks of America’s recent failure – the rampant jingoism of Fox News, the rabid war machine and arms lobby, the oil people, Wall Street.
If he doesn’t then I don’t see how we can enjoy real change.
I hope he remembers that the environment is paramount to all of us – and not just – as he has stated to date as a potential money earner for his country. The environment is not about growth.
Our expectations are through the roof and yet we have no reason to hope that things will get better. Not in the short term. The economy is a mess, Iraq is a mess, climate change continues to wreak havoc with the promise of only worse to come.
But what Obama can change is an attitude. An attitude not just to foreign policy but to foreigners in general and to differing religions. He can offer tolerance. He can be honest about the problems he faces and he can trust in Americans and the wider world to understand them and show themselves worthy of the trust.
As an early marker – let’s see Guantanamo go and go quickly. It remains a stain on the USA and its allies too.
And personally I want to really feel this new era hit Africa. Not just in aid but in trade practices too. This continent needs a level playing field.
I want to see that “God bless America”, “greatest country on earth”, “America the brave” rhetoric, that so many of us overseas have come to dislike so intensely, used for good and to inspire. Instead of as an excuse for war and division.
Already from what I read and from speaking to Americans, I can see that the biggest plus for them is that they are no longer ashamed to be American. The Bush years were a terrible burden for anyone travelling outside the USA.
I was in Hanoi when Bush visited. I swear I felt his negative presence in the city and I wasn’t the only one to remark on it.
For me I can’t help thinking of the day Blair was elected. I was ecstatic. Having grown up with a Conservative government this was my first experience of my party of choice being in charge.
For months I revelled in New Labour’s achievements and I excused its shortcomings. Even in the build up to Iraq I kept waiting for the justification. I kept thinking that a plan would reveal itself to avoid war.
It didn’t come and I lost not only respect for a prime minister and his party, but also for politics in general.
So I think amongst the mood of elation this morning I am slightly more muted than most. I agree that Obama has it in him to be great and to unite a country and re-engage with the world.
I also know that if he fails to beat the arms and oil guys then he will, at best, water down his vision and his message. We are all tired of politicians not living up to election promises.
While no one is immune from political games, if Obama capitulates in the areas where his vision is the strongest, and where he is most trusted, then he will already have lost.
Obama is so far removed from Bush that he can take few lessons from his predecessor. Instead he should look at Blair, from the party that is the Democrat’s natural UK ally, and he should realise just what can go wrong and just how people and priorities can change in power.
I hope Brown can learn from Obama too.
Good luck America. I never thought I’d envy you.
- Share this:
- StumbleUpon
- Digg
This entry was posted on November 5, 2008 at 9:41 am and is filed under africa, cameroon, world events. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: africa, barack obama, cameroon, volunteer, vso
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
November 5, 2008 at 10:01 am
Brilliant post! Well done! I agree!
November 5, 2008 at 10:35 am
very well said.
November 5, 2008 at 11:05 am
[...] I think Obama is the right man to restore America’s reputation with the rest of the world. Outside the United States, we tend to focus on US foreign policy and forget that the election was fought mostly on domestic issues. All the same, Obama has a uniquely global outlook for a US president – he is an American patriot to be sure, but one who has visited his father’s family in Kenya and lived for part of his formative years in Indonesia. I think that’s quite significant and so do a great many other people – read for example this perspective from a British volunteer in Cameroon. [...]
November 5, 2008 at 11:44 am
Good post – and well written.
? Print it and send it to Obama.
All the best,
November 5, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Well written, sir.
I have to admit that in the infancy of the presidential campaigns two years ago, I was leaning toward Ron Paul, the libertarian candidate running as a republican. My largest concern at that point was stemming the damage done to the constitutional powers from Bush’s abuse of executive powers and blatant disregard of the system of checks and balances. I wasn’t at all sure that a political animal like Clinton was going to give up those powers, and I wasn’t familiar with Obama or his platform.
The turning point for me was Obama’s ability to energize not only interest in his campaign at the national level, but also at the community level, including getting people enthusiastic and involved in local politics. I heard anecdotes from Obama volunteers of local public servants being surprised by the participation of younger members of the community, since many of them had held the position for so long simply because no one else wanted the job or cared to find out anything about it.
I think it was Bill who mentioned that around 85% of Obama’s contributions are from online donations of $100 or less. The campaign has called upon volunteers and organizers of all sorts, and it has been wildly successful. Obama’s grassroots run deep and wide, and they won’t disappear now that he’s president. This is summed up best by the title of a facebook group that was recently invited to called: “Obama’s promises aren’t empty because I’ll be fighting for them.”
The future is bleak, and though we’ve brought an agent of change into the oval office, there are many obstacles in the way of tangible progress. Even if the democrats miraculously gain 60 seats in the Senate, there remains an entrenched establishment to oppose. But now, thanks to President Elect Obama, I have hope, determination, and bloodlust.
November 5, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Well said. Let’s hope he delivers unlike Blair
November 5, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Great post, well done. Obama would do well to have it put on an oversize post-it and stuck on his fridge door. I also recall the ecstasy of Blair, it sadly all went downhill as soon as he got suckered in by Bush and his cohorts.
November 6, 2008 at 5:28 am
>>I hope that Obama can take on … the rampant jingoism of Fox News<<
You forgot Rush Limbaugh. That won’t happen, I’m afraid. Freedom of speech and all. Having recently spent a couple weeks in households that hew to this sort of blather I can tell you that those sort of diehards are rarely converted. They’re already looking forward to Palin in 2012. Heaven help us if this new administration doesn’t find a way to deliver.
The best Obama can do is offer a competing, compelling narrative that continues to appeal to the undecideds and Republican crossovers who went for him. I fear everyone’s expectations are way too high, but I do hold much hope that he’s able to continue to inspire us to do what’s necessary to implement change.
Thankfully almost every non-American I’ve met in the last 8 years has been able to distinguish between me and my government. I’ve never been ashamed to be an American – but for the first time in quite a while I’m proud to be one.
November 7, 2008 at 12:17 am
Slipping under the RADAR is the news that same-sex couples can no longer legally marry in California. It kind of got buried in the otherwise excellent news that Bush Mark 3 didn’t make it into the White House.
Like yourself, I’ve realised that the old “power corrupts” adage seems to be all too true in the world of politics. I’m very happy to see a young, intelligent person make it into probably the most powerful position on earth (outside of a boardroom). However:
We’ll see.
November 7, 2008 at 4:58 am
as expected, 1.2 million kenyas are at the U.S embassy, asking for visas to come visit their uncle at the whitehouse
November 7, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Irene.
I find your comments very offensive. Watch your tongue. Infact you should be ashamed of yourself.
November 8, 2008 at 5:36 am
willie that was a joke amongst africans in the U.S.A. apparently you did not get it.
November 9, 2008 at 11:10 pm
The sentence “I first volunteered for VSO when I decided that post Iraq I wanted nothing to do with my country.”
That is an illuminating remark and an insight into you, that I would rather not have had.
Does it mean that those of us that stay and fight to change our country should really volunteer and get out?
November 9, 2008 at 11:25 pm
DG – did I say that? Hardly. I said I decided…for me.
And secondly – I did my share of fighting. Traveling down to London on two occasions to join marches. Attending two in Newcastle, writing countless letter to politicians.
I started a job and risked losing it when I walked out in my first week to attend war protests as shock and awe got under way.
I will always have utmost respect for people who want to fight to change anything for the better but I resent the implication a) I didn’t and b) I somehow resent those people who stayed and tried to change things.
November 11, 2008 at 8:52 am
[...] went out of their way to greet me with broad smiles and enthusiastic handshakes. Just as it was reported in Bamenda, cars with ancient loudspeakers strapped to their roofs roamed the streets of Buea blasting mostly [...]