U.S. election: Obama the better choice for RI

Jusuf Wanandi ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 06/11/2008 10:37 AM  |  Opinion

Barack Obama has succeeded in becoming the Democratic Party candidate to face Republican John McCain in the U.S. presidential election in November.

It is quite a fundamental development in U.S. politics that at last, after more than 220 years as a nation, the United States has an African American as a candidate for the presidency from one of the major parties.

Obama has shown great perseverance, resilience and achievement during the Democratic Party primaries, which lasted almost 16 months from the day he declared his candidacy.

He has been able to show that he could organize a most formidable campaign team that was able to overcome the challenge and early dominance of one of the most established election machines and one of the pillars of leadership in the Democratic Party, Hillary and Bill Clinton.

He also showed he is focused and has character as well as tremendous strength and consistency, and was able to face the attacks on him, especially in the last two months of the primaries.

He further showed an even and balanced temperament, despite the biggest obstacle to him during the primaries in the form of the misplaced quotes of his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. That incident put the issue of race front and center in the election campaign and it was good that Obama was able to use it to air his views about the issue, however difficult it was.

Later, he and his wife Michelle left the church because the views of the pastor were in complete contradiction with Obama's views about race and race relations, the United States and social issues. It was fortunate for him that this happened quite early in the contest, giving him time to overcome it, if not totally.

The race issue could reemerge because there will be Americans, especially from the right wing of the Republican Party, who will always oppose him due to race. His message about change and the need to overcome old politics that have been so divisive has gained support from the young generation, especially college graduates, and across party lines. Their enthusiasm has brought a new generation into politics after 15 years of declining participation.

He has support from almost 90 percent of African Americans, but has real difficulty with white women and blue-collar whites, as well as Latinos.

All the big issues in this election seem to be in favor of the Democratic candidate. There's the Iraq War, Bush's economic policies that favor the rich and have damaged the economy, and the issue of healthcare. In spite of this, the differences in the polls between Obama and McCain are very small, 1 percent. Why is that so? Could this mean the fight for the presidency will be long and difficult?

McCain is seen not only as an American hero but also as a good man, and he has tried hard to separate himself from the Bush presidency on several important issues such as climate change, human rights abuses in the form of illegal detention in Guantanamo and illegal tapping and willingness to cooperate with liberal Democrats or independents in the Senate.

He is knowledgeable on security issues. But on Iraq he misfired and made the same mistakes as Bush on the importance of Iraq's role in global terrorism and in relation to WMD (weapons of mass destruction).

He is considered weak on the economy and appears to follow Bush's policies of giving favors to the rich through tax cuts and overdependence on the market to solve every economic problem.

On social issues he has been more balanced and therefore not well-received by the Republican right wing.

But the trend and momentum in American politics are pro-Democrats and Obama. Still, Obama first needs to win over the Clinton Democrats (white women, Latinos and blue-collar whites); and Hillary's gracious statements and promise at the end of the primaries to fully support Obama will help unite the Democrats to a large extent. The Democrats have been in opposition for eight years and see that their chance for the presidency has come, also in the House and Senate elections, and they certainly will do whatever is necessary to win.

As in past U.S. general elections, the 2008 race will be a close one. Obama has yet to be better known by the American people, while the problem of race still needs to be overcome.

Obama has mobilized a lot of private funding from a large amount of small-scale donors through his electronic collection of funds, and combined with the big ones that support Hillary, he could have formidable resources at his disposal.

Whoever is going to win has a huge challenge to face on Iraq and the Middle East. Only a "Grand Bargain", where Iran and Syria as well as Hamas and Hisbullah in Palestine and Lebanon are included in an overall solution, will have a chance of success. Here Obama can try something new, although domestic political support for this may not be readily forthcoming.

The economy has become the main issue for the public and it is not an easy one. The United States needs to cooperate with the EU, Japan, China, India and some other emerging economies such as Brazil to overcome its economic problems. Both candidates need a lot of advisors and ideas to develop an economic policy together with Congress. The issue of trade will be only one part of this, besides financial reforms. Healthcare and education will also have to be reformed and improved.

Our hope is that East Asia will not be forgotten. Despite the acute and important problems in the Middle East, the U.S. long-term strategic interest is in East Asia, where the weight of the world economy will be and is already felt. This should not only mean China, since the whole region, including India, is an integral part of the change. Whoever is going to win, McCain or Obama, should be able to spread this message.

Although both are recognized by East Asians as credible leaders who could adopt good policies (the "old" bipartisan policies that worked so well after World War II and after the end of the Cold War), Obama is closer to Indonesian hearts. At last there could be a U.S. president that has the experience, the nuance and flexibility in his mind and in his heart to be able to appreciate Indonesia, a diverse country which is still struggling to create a healthy and mature democracy in the biggest Muslim country and the fourth-most-populated country on earth.

The 2008 elections so far have been American democracy at its best and most exciting and perhaps can happen only once in two generations. It has already given a lot of hope for future American foreign policies, although it will remain tough for the next president to be able to change America.

However, Obama, who is forward-looking, has experienced various cultures of the world, is willing to listen, has the capacity to discern diversity and is ready to be open and flexible to developments in the future, appears to be the better of the two candidates.

The writer is the vice chair of the board of trustees of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

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