Being Obama

Like with blacks, Muslim politicians haven8217;t been pan-national, and 8216;minority appeasement8217; has bolstered the Hindu right. Obama refused to be confined to this role

8220;The best political campaign8230;in the history of the United States8221; 8212; to quote the admittedly biased Barack Obama 8212; holds four lessons for Indian politicians: move beyond vote-banks, appeal to cross-cutting identities, use technology to make politics more personal, and treat voters like adults. Here are the lessons, 101.

Lesson 1: Don8217;t sunbathe on vote-banks. You might get burnt. The success of the civil-right movement in the 1960s, resulted in millions of blacks 8212; many of them newly enfranchised 8212; casting their grateful lot with the Democratic Party. Since then, America8217;s 13.4 per cent blacks ensure that that every Democratic nominee makes that pilgrimage to Harlem. This has gotten blacks some power. For instance, the redrawing of congressional districts to make it black majority, has increased the number of black congressmen. But like all vote-banks, this power has a price tag. The typical black politician never has to appeal to white voters, and so, few black politicians have the broad support-base that national politics requires. 8220;Cadillac queens8221; and other stereotypes of black appeasement also drove southern whites and Reagan Democrats to the Republicans. Indian Muslims have similarly been used as vote-banks. Like with blacks, Muslim politicians have rarely donned a pan-national image the Arif Mohammeds who tried were quickly squished, and the fear of 8220;minority appeasement8221; has bolstered the Hindu right. Obama8217;s genius was that he refused to be confined to this role. Being 8220;a great candidate who happened to be black8221;, instead of a black candidate, initially earned the wrath of the black politicians like Al Sharpton. But as Tuesday told us, growing out of vote-banks pays off in the long run. Can someone explain this to Jama Masjid8217;s Syed Bukhari, who wants to float a party solely for Muslims.

Lesson 2: Appeal to different identities within the same group. Obama8217;s second achievement was in appealing to cross-cutting identities. No saint don8217;t believe what gushing editorials tell you, Obama8217;s message spoke to specific demographic groups. At different times in his campaign, he focused on blacks who felt he wasn8217;t one of them, Jews is he soft on Iran?, blue-collar whites is he too elitist? and elite liberals is he too centrist?. But Obama8217;s genius was that the groups he appealed to 8212; blacks, and the young, for instance 8212; were not exclusive of each other. Blacks are young and old, rich and poor; and the young are black and white. By appealing to cross-cutting identities whilst spouting inclusive rhetoric, Obama became bigger than the sum of his parts. No Indian politician needs this more than Mayawati, whose all-India ambitions are Obamaesque in scale. Yet she sticks to the old paradigm of caste alone, merely adding Brahmins to her Dalit vote-bank. What if Mayawati was able to successfully target Dalits as well as India8217;s young? She could be prime minister tomorrow.

Lesson 3: Use technology to make your politics more personal. Barack Obama used technology to achieve three things: directly communicate with supporters via Youtube, for supporters to network with each other through Facebook, and for contributors to fund his campaign online. These three tasks are traditionally done by thousands of party apparatchiks 8212; screening candidate from voter, making politics impersonal. By using technology, Obama made his politics about 8220;you8221;, and millions of Americans felt they owned his campaign. Owners pay for upkeep: Obama raised half a billion dollars in contributions, and 8220;fired up8221; a committed grassroots network. Can Indian politicians use technology this wisely? Demographics make this seem difficult. 46 per cent of Americans use the internet for political purposes alone; hardly any Indians use the internet at all. But when percentages are translated to numbers, the story becomes different. Indian campaign financing is elite driven anyway. Using technology to involve the urban middle-class is a start.

Lesson 4: Have honest, serious conversations with the voter. Obama8217;s fourth, perhaps lasting impact was to have adult conversations with his voters. In his powerful 8216;a more perfect union8217; speech on race, he was unequivocal: blaming America8217;s legacy of slavery and Jim Crow for current black under-achievement. But he was also healing: acknowledging both black anger as well as white resentment. He talked about race without dumbing-down, and he was rewarded by the electorate. India has two such 8216;national conversations8217;, which we aren8217;t having. One is on terrorism. As has been pointed out on these pages IE, October 11, nowhere was this sincerity more absent than in the aftermath of the Batla house encounter. What was needed was for the Congress leadership to talk honestly to Muslims: allay fears about the encounter, denounce terrorism, but also feel for the plight of ordinary Muslims. What happened instead was opportunistic identity politics. The other 8216;national conversation8217; we are not having is about caste. The last national leader to address caste by deploring it without exploiting it was B.R. Ambedkar. Since then, the empowerment that reservations and caste-politics can also give, has instead been used for narrow political gain.

Indian politicians can applaud Obama all they want. But if they want to emulate him, they have to try.

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