Now that Barack Obama has all but locked up the presidency, it is a great time to reflect on his possible impact on the history of the country and the world, for he has a unique opportunity to transform events like few presidents have had a chance to do. Consider the following six impacts:
First, the balance between the consumer climate and the business climate. Democrats have been pushing social reforms for decades – welfare system, consumer protections, labor protections, investor protections, environmental protections, minimum wage, work-life-balance corporate policies, etc. They have done it primarily driven by social-justice concerns.
But today, we see clearly that business was made far stronger by these reforms, contrary to Republican concerns that this would cut into profitability and reduce incentives to risk capital in business ventures. Reforms to humanize the market have led to higher purchasing power (greater consumption), higher consumer confidence, happier and more motivated workers and executives who can then innovate more, greater environmental sustainability that allows growth to happen to begin with, etc.
Obama will be the first president who actually gets this new economic landscape. He has spoken and written about it extensively. As he fights for more reforms, he understands clearly that this is all about striking a better balance between giving business the incentives and conditions it needs to grow (business climate) and giving consumers the conditions they need to grow (consumer climate), because we now see that an economy needs both. Republicans tend not to get that. They see businesses hurt by every reform, when in fact businesses benefit, provided the reforms are handled well.
To the extent Obama drives home the point in the next eight years, he will change the debate for good, and everyone (including Republicans) will come to embrace this new way to develop an economy. Gone will be the knee-jerk class-based assumption that Democrats are out to hurt business or that Republicans are out to hurt people. It will be a new and historic consensus that will drive policy and lead to greater political and social harmony.
Second, the balance between individual achievement and responsibility on the one hand, and shared achievement and responsibility on the other. Even Democrats have traditionally missed this point, as they have focused disproportionately on the latter, while Republicans have focused disproportionately on the former. The fact is that America has been built on both pillars: our hunger to excel as individuals, and our instinct to help others in need – to be, as Obama reminds us often, our brother’s keeper and our sister’s keeper. Both are part of our psyche and culture. Yet, all too often we lose sight of our conscience in our relentless race to the top.
Here as well, the stakes are huge. This new realization will unleash a race to serve others, without hurting the race to excellence and achievement. Americans will discover that we’ve been doing both all along. And this will have a tremendous and lasting impact on our entire culture, from the inner city to corporate America to entertainment and the media.
Third, diversity. Obama is half white and half black. He was, in fact, raised a white kid with black skin in a diverse environment (Hawaii and Indonesia). And his black side is African from the continent, removed, as he has said, from the black anger of African-Americans that he only discovered as an adult in college. His white family traces its roots to countries around the world. His sister is half Indonesian.
As the United States transitions into a far more diverse nation in the coming decades, people, the media, businesses and politicians need to come to grips with the vast social implications of this. It will be New York City nationwide, and unless we get it right, the growing diversity can drive wedges of intolerance and social strife all over.
Obama is the only leader out there who can drive home the right message of diversity, a message of tolerance and celebration, a message of respect and embrace. Blacks need to drop their anger. Whites need to drop their overt and veiled racism, as well as their Hispanophobia. Hispanics need to feel like they belong. Asians need to become more integrated. Etc., etc.
Diversity can become an even bigger strength than it has been to date. When you look at every other developed country, the United States towers above them all in this regard, and Obama is the one leader who can guide us into that new world.
Fourth, what I call the coming Age of Peace. Diversity takes us right into foreign policy, because the foreign policy of the 21st century will be driven by the imperative to engage the world far more than ever before. Militarism and unilateralism will not get it done. With new powers arising and the world interlocked in a web of trade, treaties and mass-media communications that make it all seem so near, geopolitical diversity is the new name of the game.
To solve such issues as terrorism, Iran, North Korea, the resurgent Russia, human rights in a far more powerful China, global poverty and global warming, the U.S. president must have an instinctive feel for geopolitical diversity. He must have a gut understanding of the legitimate viewpoints and grievances of others, particularly those who dislike our policies abroad, not see them as enemies who don’t know what they’re saying and engage in confrontation and imposition, and much less bully our allies into seeing things our way or else.
The time has come to shed this knee-jerk arrogance of the Ugly American and adopt the same tolerance and respect of others abroad that we seek to embrace here at home. This will change the world. It will usher in a new Age of Peace that will prevent war among major powers for decades if not centuries to come and allow us to contain regional conflicts far better than the world has been able to do thus far.
It won’t be nirvana, to be sure. There will always be tyrants and terrorists out there who will simply not agree. But it will be an Age of Peace nonetheless, in the larger scheme of things. And Obama is the only president we could have who can lead the world in this direction. To sit with adversaries without preconditions is one way to do it, since preconditions stem from the arrogance of the Ugly American – the assumption that only we know what is right and that the other’s point of view is wrong and meaningless. And that’s only one aspect of this new world that Obama has right.
Sixth, common ground. This applies to foreign policy as well as the domestic scene. As Obama said in his acceptance speech in Denver, we can differ on abortion but unite in our common goal of reducing unwanted pregnancies, and we can agree that hunting and self-defense are game for guns but join hands in keeping AK-47s away from the hands of gangs and criminals.
His focus has always been on finding the common ground that allows us to move from contention to collaboration. The chapter on this subject in The Audacity of Hope is inspiring. To the extent he does this as president and gets the entire country to do it in small ways and large, he will change the country. To the extent he does it around the world, he will change history.
Finally, global warming. This is one issue that is defining the 21st century already, and we’re not even a full decade into it yet. The writing is ALL over the wall, and if the next president does not get it right, it might be too late for the next one. The world may only have one more chance. This is it, the ultimate game-changer. And without the right American leadership, it won’t get done, and God help us after that.
Obama gets this far more than McCain, who named a VP candidate who doesn’t even believe global warming is man-made!! Sure shows how deep his commitment is on this hugest of all issues. Obama has said many times that energy and climate change will be a top priority for him as he kicks off the next administration. This, too, will be history in the making.
I could go on. There are a few other issues that will make Obama a historic president. But these are the main ones. I’m just glad we’ll get to see him at work.
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