Anything’s possible

Americans,” Barack Obama said during his election campaign, “still believe in an America where anything’s possible. They just don’t think their leaders do.” It is the achievement of the 47-year-old president-elect to have convinced the rest of the world too of the possibility of that America. In a world stricken too long with exasperation with, and even anger at, the United States, Obama’s victory is a moment significant for the fascination it holds. By his very election, by his forceful bid for the most powerful job around, just by the victory, he has repaired so much. The US has been these past years a country divided, and also a country seen to have the potential to be divisive. This, for a country that’s still perceived to be the only possessor of the power, wherewithal and will to take a global lead on issues ranging from the financial crisis to counter-terrorism, and hopefully now climate change. Obama has still to fulfil his promise, but his carefully engaging campaign has righted his country’s image and drawn the confidence that he can bring, well, change.

To watch Obama conduct an inclusive campaign is to be nonetheless mindful of the identity of the next incumbent of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC. The election of the US’s first black president is historic. To see parts of the segregationist south vote him in, as our columnist notes, is to understand the ability of democracy to fix ugly stains in a country’s history. To see the way he’s managed it is, also, to understand the benefits of keeping the highest standards in one’s campaign. This is why Obama’s victory is significant not just for its representational value. Obama has addressed his country’s divides by engaging in depth with difficult issues. On his controversial, and now former, pastor for instance — with one of the most remarkable speeches ever on the roots and remnants of racial hatred in otherwise good people. This is the quality of engagement Obama has brought to many contentious issues, America’s many and wayward wars, its conduct of foreign policy, its under-regulated financial system. Great leaders make their case, in part, by keeping the conversation as big as can be. If Obama has reclaimed his country’s lost authority, it is by hinting at a stamina and heart for big conversations.

Will that translate into concrete benefit? This question should be kept for later. For now, also applaud the electoral system that produced this result, that enabled a man with no influential patrons to win the confidence of a formidable political party and then his country.