The Last Day

It is the final 24 hours of George W. Bush's presidency. With just a few hours until a new president is sworn in, it seems appropriate to pause for a moment and consider what has passed and what's to come.

First, I'm glad to see Bush go. I believe he is more intelligent than some have given him credit for, but I also believe that he's bad news. Bush is like a bull in a china shop - there's no finesse there at all. It scares me to think of George W. Bush in the same situation that Kennedy faced during the Cuban Missile Crisis. At that time, the world was on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe as America and Russia faced off against each other. It is, of course, impossible to say for sure how Bush would've behaved, but we can look at his reaction to 9/11 and Iraq, and see how swift he was to lead the United States (and Britain) into an ill-conceived war. At the end of the day, the Bush legacy is not stability and peace, it's the opposite.

As for Obama, I am so pleased that the U.S. electorate has chosen him to succeed Bush. He is clearly intelligent and has some interesting policy ideas. Plus, as a UK citizen, I like his attitude when it comes to Foreign policy. I believe that he can take on board the intelligent opinion of his advisors and others around the world, and balance that with his own beliefs, knowledge and understanding and make educated decisions. He seems able to listen, gather information and insight but ultimately, make his own judgements without coming across as arrogant - something that I could never give Bush credit for. However, I do have one concern. At the moment, the American public is applauding itself for electing a coloured president. I agree that the nation has come a very long way since the de facto apartheid of the sixties and seventies, but there are still many Americans who harbour a deep seated and evil loathing of anything that isn't 'normal'. It is hard to quantify from a distance exactly how widespread this might be, but I wonder how people really fell about having a coloured president (or a gay, Jewish, Hindu, Latino or female) and I also wonder how long Obama will last. I hope I am wrong, but I have a horrible dread that one day I will switch on the news to reports of assasination. God, I hope that doesn't happen! If it does, will it be an Islamic Fundamentalist or a close-minded biggot? Where will the finger point: to the world at large, or in on itself?

This, by the way, is not to say that Americans aren't intelligent. Please don't think that I tar all U.S. citizens with the same brush: Many of my friends are American and I love the country for it's fantastic geographical and cultural variety. The American people deserve a leader to be proud of. Tomorrow we will say goodbye to Bush and welcome to Obama. I wish him all the best and hope that he can meet the challenges of the next 4 (and maybe even 8) years head on with the same respectability and dignity with which he conducted himself during the election.