Read at Your Own Risk!

DISCLAIMER: If you have any affinity for the Bush Dynasty, unquestioning adoration for Obama, or a firmly held belief that the “American Way of Life” is a God-given right, please do not read this post! I promise to have a fluffy post with anecdotes and photos by next week :-)

Barack Hussein Obama, the son of a Kenyan immigrant, is now the most powerful man in the world. I was certain it was impossible and I still find it difficult to believe even after reading “President Obama . . .” repeatedly in the papers. Luckily, I am constantly reminded of Obama's victory by strangers in India immediately after confessing that I am an American. “Oh Yes, Obama! He is a good man, I like him very much!” Overnight it became OK to be an American abroad! To many Indians, and to millions of others around the world, Obama represents the possibility of a new world order, a world where America does have a conscience and a moral responsibility to consider the well-being of hundreds of millions of impoverished people around the world. All of this optimism and enthusiasm is based on two facts; 1) Obama is not a member of the white and privileged establishment and 2) his last name isn't Bush or Clinton.

Unfortunately (I seldom express this sentiment to excited Indians) I am not expecting change, at least not any deep or lasting change, during Obama's presidency. Economic exploitation of the third world through economic imperialism and the unquestioned reign of transnational corporations will continue during the next four years. Obama may represent many positive things to many deserving people, but he is an ardent centrist (and he wouldn't have been elected otherwise) and the bulk of his policies reinforce the status quo. He may be an exciting breath of fresh air in the global political scene, but his image, charisma, and rhetoric can only go so far.
In some ways America under Obama is more dangerous than it was under Bush Junior. Of course this is blasphemous to my liberal friends, but the truly liberal have reason to be disheartened. The Bush regime was so utterly simple, so brazen in its actions, so arrogant in its behaviors, that the mechanisms behind global exploitation were clearly visible to even the most casual observer. An ex-president's simple-minded son (himself a former oil tycoon) gets elected through a technicality in the state his brother governs, hires a bunch of his Dad's old buddies (Oil tycoons and defense contractors) with the sole aim of making a more “favorable global business environment” for his CEO buddies. Of course this includes acquiring, through unapologetically dishonest means, the oil necessary to lubricate the wheels of production and consumption. Of course this is all old news, it will all be in history books soon enough, but the point is that Bush made it easy for opponents of the American led trans-national corporate empire to criticize the unjust system and to rally people in the fight for change. In many ways Obama is a godsend to the status quo; he appeases the masses with the appearance of change while business continues as usual. I don't think we will be illegally invading and occupying as many countries during the next four years, but I have little doubt that our tax dollars will continue to pour into the defense industry, that the richest one percent of Americans will continue owns more wealth than the bottom twenty percent, and that corporate campaign contributions will continue to guide public policy making.

I have no doubt that Obama is a good and honorable man, and he may even turn out to be one of the great presidents of the modern era, but good and honorable aren't enough. The world needs a revolutionary president who is not afraid to work outside the two-party political system in order to bring justice to the hundreds of millions who are on the losing end of global economic inequity. Sure, he is the American president and he was elected to further America's interests, but as September 11th proved, we don't live in an impenetrable bubble. Global peace is impossible without global equality, both economic and political. How can we expect the rest of the world to watch contentedly as we gluttonously consume vastly more than our share of the world's limited resources? Do we deserve to live a more comfortable life than the rest of the world? Do they deserve to live in poverty? Do we work harder, or are we born smarter? (I can tell you firsthand that the answer is a definitive NO to last question.) Or was it a fluke of history and geography that endowed the people of America and Europe with power and wealth - power that we use without hesitation to acquire more wealth, which we are very hesitant to share. A powerful minority can only hide behind the supposedly sacred concept of the sovereign nation-state for so long before the rest of the world realizes that the world's resources belong to everyone and that no one group has a right to live a life of luxury while others suffer in poverty. This is the exact reason why conservatives have been pushing the idea of a missile defense shield since Reagan - we would finally get our impenetrable bubble that would protect us from any retribution, righteous or otherwise, from those who seek a more equitable global balance of power.

Even a missile defense shield can't save us from the effects of environmental collapse. As you read this, weather patterns are shifting, glaciers are melting, and sea levels are rising. We're already running low on oil and soon much of the world will be short of the water it needs. The evidence is clear – our unsustainable lifestyle and careless public policy has altered the planet's delicate balance and we are unprepared for the inevitable effects.

Two more, albeit late, disclaimers:
1) I am no expert on Obama's policies
2) I benefit every day of my life from the plundering of the American empire, and will probably continue to do so for the rest of my life.

Despite the cynicism of this rant, I am genuinely excited by Obama's presidency. He is bound to improve public infrastructure, education, and the status of scientific research in the United States. I am also fascinated by his victory as a historic milestone. Less than five decades ago he wouldn't have been allowed to sit at the same table as white people in some states, but now he is sitting at the head of the table, and everyone is listening – a monumental step for a nation plagued by racial discord. Of course hundreds of years of wrongs can not be corrected by a single electoral gesture. A great deal of work has yet to be done, but at least we are moving forward. Obama's election is in many ways the culmination of the war over racial identity that has been fought in America since the civil rights movement. I hope that we really are in a new post-racial era of American politics because a united citizenry is needed to fight the next great battle for equality. The rally cry of this new battle is a logical extension of the civil right movement; all people, not just those born in America, deserve equality, both economic and political. This battle will not be won until economic and environmental exploitation of the third world are no longer considered valid means to accumulate wealth. I look forward to the day when it is just as easy and affordable for the average Indian to travel to America as it has been for me to travel to India.

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Although the tone of this posting is urgent - and even slightly angry - I assure you that the atmosphere at Sadhana Village is the polar opposite. Perhaps the only problem is that I have too much free time to observe the surrounding villages and write about my reactions, hence this post. I hope that the cardinal rule of conversation – don't discuss religion or politics because you'll either bore people or piss them off – doesn't apply to blogging. Even if it does apply, I hope I didn't piss anyone off, or worse, bore anyone with an exceptionally long and pictureless post. Just throwing my 2¢ in . . .