Obama as a great American president

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A time for leadership                                   

 President  Barack Obama has the stuff and what it takes to be a great American president; and the possibility of having his image chiselled on Mount Rushmore with other great presidents.  Obama is tenacious, strategic, brilliant and politically astute to join the family of American greatest presidents. But he should be ready to walk the difficult but established pathway to greatness.  For him to accomplish such a tall order he must be willing to think long term and forsake immediate gratification of winning immediate elections.  The November mid- term election is almost here and polling numbers coming in are not very good for the Democratic Party.  Well, history has proven that mid-term election is not always good for the ruling party. But to make the sour soup worse, the great recession that comes with increasingly unemployment is not making life easy for President Obama and his fellow democrats on the campaign trail.

Real politicking would be for the White House to tactically recoil from its agenda of transforming American economy.  It may help them in short term to win November election and continue to maintain the majority in both Houses. But dwelling on winning immediate election at the expense of planned agenda will make the American prospect little dimmer. This is not to say that Democrats will rest on their laurels and give up in maintaining their majority in both houses. All things being equal, this is not the time to back down from laying the necessary foundation for the creation of new industries and policies that will produce 21st century jobs and the innovative green energy industries. It will be a total disservice to the children and next generation of American workers when policy makers and industrial leaders fail to prepare them for jobs of 21st century.

President Obama has a great challenge even perhaps the greatest dilemma of his political life. To do the political correct and popular things, thereby win elections.  In other hand do the right and difficult things and suffer the consequences of losing seats in the both houses.  The right decisions and policies will make American Union richer and stronger. To make these strategic decisions President Obama has plenty of places to look to especially through the prism of American history. History has proven that nation building and growing of economies of the future never happen by chance.  The world can be changed and things get better when men and women of goodwill made firm decisions to be committed and consistence to a strategic vision. The “translating of strategic vision to operational reality” cannot be possible when tactical decision hinders politicians for short-term political gains.

History was littered with great men and women who took up the consequential challenge of making lives better by changing the course of history. Looking into American past the great presidents can be a case study for President Obama and politicians who are willing to rise above politics and make the right decisions.

The brilliant, young and charismatic President John Kennedy stood on the right side of history in spite of the pitfalls.  JFK did the right thing and stood up for civil rights and he did not think about losing elections in the South, rather he was thinking about the future of the republic.  The strategic vision of making American freer and more prosperous for everybody is more significance than winning elections in short terms.  President Kennedy was looking at the future when he pledged to land a man on a moon and return him back successfully.

President Reagan at era of cold war increased the defence budget despite criticism and his contributing endeavour catalyzed the end of cold and the defeat of Soviet Union.

President Eisenhower pushed the bill for the intercontinental Highway constructions and today America is better and richer because of his vision. The bulging of commerce and trade would have been hampered without the easy access for deliverance of goods and services in every nook and corner of the country.

Probably the greatest president of modern time is Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) who gave America the New Deal “a complex, interlocking set of programs designed to produce relief (especially government for the unemployed), recovery (of the economy), and reform (through regulation of Wall Street, banks and transportation).” America is healthier and stronger because of FDR’s New Deal.

Time and events, it is said, makes a great president. President Obama during this changing time of the global economy should look into American history for courage and determination to continue with what he has started – which is to transform America for sake of the next generation of workers and capitalists.

Emeka Chiakwelu is the Principal Policy Strategist at Afripol Organization.  Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center (Afripol) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa.       info@afripol.org   www.afripol.org