the era of obama

Where Is America Going?
The okay for funding abortion, the announcement of the closure of Guantanamo, the anti-crisis plan. Amid many expectations (and just as many doubts), the President has made his first moves. Are these enough to predict how the USA will change? The New York–based correspondent of the Italian daily la Repubblica, Mario Calabresi, gives a European standpoint of someone watching from within and from without

by Fabrizio Rossi

“We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”  On January 20th, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States by a nation that is currently terrorized by the economic crisis. Enormous expectation surrounds this 47-year-old senator from Illinois. He is the first black at the helm of this nation where, up to 60 years ago, people like him could not even enter a restaurant.
Will Obama be able to re-launch the American spirit? Put to the test, can he succeed in giving new confidence to his fellow citizens? We talked to Mario Calabresi, a 39-year-old U.S. correspondent for la Repubblica, one of the most attentive observers on the American scene, able to offer a European standpoint. Calabresi has followed the election campaign from the start: he was with the Clintons in Iowa, and in South Carolina with McCain; he traveled with Obama in the Midwest, and was one of the volunteers backstage, in his organizational machine.
After having touched an electoral nerve by painting great future scenarios, will the new President be able to confront the day-to-day problems? “We are in front of the unknown,” warns Calabresi. “Up to now, Obama made the grade philosophically, but daily administration is something else. He was acclaimed, but he must make unpopular decisions. Will he be able to withstand the criticism?”

The First Move. His first move, however, created an uproar: already on the third day of his mandate, Obama repealed the Mexico City Policy, a law that denied federal funding for NGOs  engaged in promoting abortion in developing countries. Are we in the hands of a new Zapatero? “One cannot identify Obama with the European leftists. His position has more nuances,” Calabresi sustains. For example? “Without putting the sentence ‘Roe vs. Wade’ [which reached its 36-year anniversary on January 22nd] into discussion, Obama affirmed a wider principle: ‘The government must not interfere in the most private family matters.’ Historically, this is more a Republican than a Democratic idea. At the same time, he confirmed that he wants to try to reduce the number of abortions, displeasing the pro-abortion movement, which expected a more radical  stance.” The result? “This way, he can obtain a wider and less ideological majority, with consensus from both factions.” What are his ideas on other ethical issues? “Let’s take gay marriage: the position of Obama is not purely Democratic. It is not by chance that the first to be disappointed by his policy were the California homosexuals. Obama did not take a position in their favor, but confirmed that marriage is between a man and a woman.” And for the abolition of the death penalty? “Also in this case he said he is against it, but he did not want to engage in an ideological battle. He admitted that for certain brutal crimes (such as those that involve pedophiles), the community can ask for capital punishment.” Would it be wrong to use ideological measures to understand Obama? “The world of voters that elected him were, above all, blacks and Hispanics. There does not exist a coalition like the one that supported the Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero. Certainly, he also had the support of the New York liberal left but not the share of the majority. Having bypassed traditional  factions was the secret of his victory–today, the people look less toward ideology and search for more pragmatic answers.”
Certainly, Obama has in front of him delicate challenges. Let’s take security, for example: to demonstrate that “the fight against terrorism does not compromise human rights,” he announced the closure of Guantanamo. But this is not a painless decision, as a military judge defined the government argument “unconvincing,” thus establishing that the trials in the Cuban prison must continue. “It opens several questions: what status will these prisoners have? Can the presumed terrorists be judged by a normal tribunal? This is a difficult question.” In the meantime, in Europe, several observers are applauding this decision: “We forget that Obama is not a pacifist. And soon he will ask Europe for a larger involvement in Afghanistan.”

The Approach To The Crisis. However, the economic emergency remains the first priority: the crisis in 2008 eliminated more jobs than any other time since the Second World War. How does Obama intend to tackle this situation? “He wants to create 3,000,000 jobs, to increase subsidy to the unemployed, and construct bridges and roads (a typical Democratic packet). He promises a gigantic fiscal cut of $1,000 dollars per family (a Republican recipe). In short, a bipartisan approach.” Therefore, “certain priorities have no color. The Americans that I saw last autumn while traveling were paralyzed by the collapse of the housing market, by the immense debt accumulated by their families. In light of this, Obama surely had a hand in building optimism. Wherever he went, he repeated, ‘We can come out of this.’ He invited people to bet on hope”–a word that sounds like rhetoric. “Rhetoric in his speeches is plentiful. But let’s look at the results.  So far, this rhetoric has served to put people back in the game. And, in any case, the political meetings of Obama have demonstrated one thing, which is that in order to re-launch this country, Americans need to return to feeling that they are a nation where nothing is impossible. The sense of belonging to a community is one of the characteristics of being American. In every city, Obama received the most applause when he was exclaiming, “We are not a nation of red or blue, Democrats or Republicans, whites or blacks; we are the United States!” For Europeans, this value may seem out of fashion, whereas patriotism for an American is a true adhesive. “American flags adorn many homes. It is striking to find the same flag on the home of immigrants. You hail a taxi and meet a first-generation Pakistani driver, proud that his son goes to college. These people can say, ‘Now I am part of a community.’”

Has The World Changed? Perhaps the most complex period since the Great Depression awaits the Presidency. Is the country ready to accept the sacrifices? “Americans have enormous flexibility. They are capable of altering their mindset, convinced that nothing is impossible to change. An example? In Newark, Delaware, I happened to meet a former employee of Chrysler. Due to the crash in the market, the SUV does not sell anymore. Thus, before Christmas, the company closed, sending him home. He told me, “After 25 years on the production line, I leave a piece of my heart there.” But he immediately added, “I understand that that type of work does not exist any more; the world has changed and therefore I have to change too.” At almost 50 years old, he enrolled in a course for masseurs/physiotherapists, explaining to me, “There are many old people where I live. I believe that there is a need for a person that can help them. I have changed my life.” Where does this flexibility come from? “From a pragmatism that is greater than you find in Europe. The more that Americans are left on their own, the more they move on to what reality is asking of them.”