The End of the ‘Yes We Can’ Era

Very few people would have forgotten the jubilation and fanfare that accompanied the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States in 2008. There were celebrations around the world from Europe to Asia, Africa to the Americas as we all looked to the silver lining in a year that had seen the world hit hard by the financial crisis that began in the US. There was a glimmer of hope to all the ‘Davids’ around the world. If the US had finally had its first black president, the message to every child in every corner of the globe was that the world was ours for the taking; if we worked hard at it. At least that is what it meant to me.

Fast-forward eight years and it’s 2016 when Obama is saying goodbye to the White House. The question on most minds is ‘Did he live up to our expectations?’ I doubt he did, no human could have. The world was in such a terrible state when he took office that we expected him to do almost the impossible; fix what was broken with the US economy- that was waist deep in financial crisis, divided, and in no hurry to attend to pressing problems of health care and environmental protection. Above all, the ‘fix’ had to be for the US, but it also had to trickle down to the rest of the world because we have always looked to America for leadership. It did the president no good that he was black, as a number of politicians vowed upon his inauguration to ‘do everything possible’ to limit him to one term in office.

Fareed Zakaria presented a very insightful assessment of president Obama’s legacy in his December 5^th episode of GPS. He argues that Obama brought a dramatic change to US policy, and may go down as one of the most consequential in US history. Obama may have failed in closing Guantanamo Bay detention center, overseen the rise of the so called ‘Islamic state’, the collapse of Libya, Syria and domestic issues like the rise of health care premium, but the fact remains that he did achieve a lot during the two terms of his presidency. The US economy has since stopped bleeding jobs, and the world has taken its cue from there. The environment, healthcare, gay rights and a more diplomatic approach to resolving world issues are among some of the things Obama will be remembered for.

We are holding our breaths, waiting to see what will happen as now president elect Trump vows to undo the legacy of President Obama. The uncertainty is not only at home in the US, as he has also called to question the role the US played in the Paris Climate change Agreement, NATO, the Iran Nuclear deal and Regional Trading Agreements the USA has signed with other countries.

What are your thoughts on the Obama presidency, and the future of the world?