A BLACK IRONY
Al-Ahram Weekly
April 10 2009
Egypt
Gamal Nkrumah muses on a striking parallel — Europe is to America
as Bush is to Obama
US President Barack Obama speaks during a press conference in
Strasbourg, France at the conclusion of the NATO marking the
organisation’s 60th anniversary
Nothing hits home like the arrival of a black leader of the world’s
wealthiest nation, especially if he happens to be a bleeding-heart
liberal at a moment of global financial crisis. His European hosts
feted United States President Barack Obama. He was an American dream
that metamorphosed into reality. White Europe was enthralled by the
black president and his charming first lady.
Obama transformed trans-Atlantic relations, by forcing Europe
to face up to its old certitudes and prejudices. No European
electorate would vote a black president, chancellor or premier
into office. Indeed, European Union nations are currently devising
repatriation deals for people of colour. However, it is not only a
question of colour. Religion, too, is a touchy subject. America sees
no credible reason to bar Turkish entry into the EU, but Turkey’s
European neighbours will not hear of it. The challenge for Europeans
today is that like naughty children with messy bedrooms, they can no
longer sweep the junk under their beds.
No aspiring black politician could change the political face of
conservative Europe. That is the crux of the matter as far as people
of colour the world over are concerned. Unlike his predecessor George
W Bush, Obama does seem to have plenty of time and a newly-cultivated
taste for America’s allies abroad. That is a vision of an attentive
ally that is refreshingly invigorating for both Washington and world
affairs, to be sure, but there is a hint of hubris about it too.
Obama treads a fine diplomatic line. His liberalism and
level-headedness might well be convincing to the American electorate,
but not all America’s allies abroad are so easily taken in by all this
broad-mindedness. Even before the novelty of playing host to a black
president wears off, it is becoming increasing evident that Obama’s
pollyannaish posturing is not playing well with many of his allies
overseas. The Turks warmly welcomed Obama’s urging of the Europeans
to accept Turkey as a fully-fledged EU member state. Washington,
Obama declared, "strongly supports Turkey’s bid to become a member
of the EU." The Turks, however, took to the streets to protest their
frustration at Obama’s inability to prevail over the Europeans to
admit a predominantly Muslim nation with a population of 75 million
in their midst. Obama’s vision might well be his most potent political
asset, and yet it is clear to all that his vision is somewhat flawed,
or rather too far-sighted as far as his European allies are concerned.
"Obama is just as bad as his predecessor Bush," angry Turks protested
even as the US president paid his first official visit to a Muslim
nation, albeit one that has long espoused secularism. The personas
and styles of the current American president and his predecessor are
radically different, but when push comes to shove, Washington continues
to be saddled with the burden of how best to handle international
affairs. "I know that the trust that binds us has been strained,"
Obama told his Turkish hosts in Ankara. "The US is not and never will
be at war with Islam," he stressed.
What pundits deftly declined to pen is that officials in Muslim
countries lapped up his obsequious words of wisdom even though the
Muslim masses are suspicious of his pious pontification. Precisely,
perhaps, because he deliberately flaunts the Hussein in his name when
convenient while insisting on his Christian convictions, something
which leaves Muslims cold. Much like his reception in the US Congress
after his State of the Union address, Obama was mobbed by legislators
anxious to touch the African-American messiah.
"America’s relationship with the Muslim world cannot and will not
be based on opposition to Al-Qaeda," the charismatic US president
pointedly reminded his European and Turkish hosts. "Our partnership
with the Muslim world is critical in rolling back a fringe ideology
that people of all faiths reject," he expounded on a tremendously
touchy topic.
Urging Europe to follow America’s example, Obama noted that "Europe
gains by diversity of ethnicity and tradition and faith — it is
not diminished by it," America’s black president told his white
hosts. "Turkish membership would broaden and strengthen Europe’s
foundation," Obama concluded.
US-Muslim relations and Turkey’s ascension to the EU are only two
examples of how the astute Obama handles prickly topics. There are
other far more spooky ones. Take North Korea, for instance. The trick
is to stay ahead of the game, something his predecessors miserably
failed to do. The international media made a hullabaloo about the 5
April North Korean missile launch with Russia, China and even India
urging restraint. Obama knowing all too well that America has no
leg to stand on shifted the focus of his criticism from Pyongyang
to platitudes about nuclear disarmament, in passing acknowledging
America’s badge of dishonour for being the first and only power to
actually use this appalling weapon of mass destruction.
Another example of his mastery of the word was his deft approach
to the semantics of the Armenian catastrophe which occurred during
the collapse of the Ottoman Caliphate. "History is often tragic, but
unresolved, it can be a heavy weight." To assuage his Turkish hosts,
he likened the plight of the Armenians to that of the African slaves
in America. The US "still struggles with the legacies of slavery
and segregation, the past treatment of Native Americans." And, by
implication, so does Turkey, a statement that Turks can neither deny
nor take umbrage at.
So a black president is not after all out of place in Europe, and
especially not if he nominally has Muslim roots. "The US and Europe
must approach Muslims as our friends, neighbours, and partners in
fighting injustice, intolerance and violence, forging a relationship
based on mutual respect and mutual interests," Obama stressed during
his trip to Turkey.
America must learn to transcend the pursuit of narrow interests. In
Istanbul, and after a breathtaking tour of the panoramic city, Obama
thrilled his audiences at the Alliance of Civilisations Forum. In a
clear departure from the belligerent rhetoric of his predecessor, Obama
paraphrased a Turkish proverb much to the delight of his listeners:
"You cannot put out fire with flames," he observed, with a tongue-in-
cheek reference to the pugnacious actions of George W Bush in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
Obama wowed his audiences with powerfully resonant speeches and
lectures. He attends to American alliances overseas, partnerships
and international institutions such as the United Nations. He
applies American leadership with a human face, and has obviously
unceremoniously dethroned the bellicose rhetoric of the "war on terror"
as the animating factor in American foreign policy concerns. If you
happen to be an idealist visionary, then stick with this particular
scenario.
Pursuing consensus for its own sake may prove counter-productive,
Obama’s detractors claim. Yet, the US president is far from complaisant
in his determination to achieve his stated objectives. Nor does he
mince his words when the need arises. Heated, or rather pointed,
debate over principled differences are healthy. The deciding factor
is Obama’s subtle diplomatic posturing. Obama may have been looking
forward to his first major foreign trip as US president. He does not
deliver fire and brimstone sermons to peers, but he is as Pauline as
his bungling predecessor.
So what puts a spanner into this adjustment mechanism? The
three-pronged crisis to hit America — the housing, credit and
consumer confidence crises — weaken Obama’s hand, yet it’s admirable
how he turns this to his advantage. On the one hand, Obama feels
just as strongly about compromise with opponents as his bellicose
predecessor did.
On the other hand, these concerns can be addressed through apparent
openness and transparency — American-style. Just keep screaming in
your opponent’s face until he hurls his shoes at you no longer does it.
But there is a fine line between diplomacy and duplicity. Duplicity
is a futile exercise and it is intellectually debilitating. As far
as America and the Western world is concerned, Muslims the world
over are still perceived as a threat. Unfortunately, public opinion
in the West is highly manipulated and Muslims are the bete noire of
both the media and political establishment. And this will not change
under Obama despite his credentials and silver tongue.
The date 11 September 2001 shall remain enshrined in the country’s
collective national psyche for eternity. Under Obama, American
policymakers purport to have embraced objectivity. The newly nuanced
approach appeals to the world at large, especially "civilised"
Europeans. Obama does not question his country’s values — for surely
they put him in the position where he finds himself in at the moment.
Muslims are loathed because everything changed with 9/11. Or so the
media would have us believe. The Europeans, though, still reserve
their bitterest contempt to immigrants from Africa and countries on
Europe’s eastern fringe. Economics are still tainted by the question
of colour. It is one thing to fawn over a black president — who will
be going home shortly. It is quite another to open the floodgates to
desperate black and brown hordes.
Europeans were fond of dismissing Bush as an uncouth American. With
Obama, the tables are turned. Even Bush at his most rambling and
least insightful, was less gauche with respect to Muslims than
Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel with their determination to keep
Turkey out of their exclusive club on the grounds of religion. The
Bush administration ended up looking risibly retro. And so will Europe.
Obama and his European hosts differ on the explosive question of
how much the state should intervene in the economic and financial
crises. Gordon Brown of Britain, Sarkozy of France and Merkel of
Germany are happy to rub shoulders with the black beau. Naturally,
Obama will have to build coalitions with his European and Muslim
peers. The hope in Europe, Turkey and around the world is that Obama
may promise less, but deliver far more than his predecessors.
It is a question of balance. Europe understands that what America
does not need is a leader like Bush. America, and the world, needs a
credible US president, with a sense of intimacy and a belief in the
intensity of the friendship between America and the rest of the world.
With a black president at the helm, America has chosen the open seas.