Letters to the Editor
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Obama's ideas - A Welcome Change
Even us here (East Africa) watch closely what is taking place in the US. Economically insignificant and oilless as we are, rarely are we noticed or seriously considered in American policy. Still we are greatly affected, like anyone else, by the sneezes from the White House - and W. Bush has been sneezing like hell.
We have watched with horror as he has progressively sunk America's image abroad, especially in the post Sept-11 era. America needs a cool head at the helm to become a truly World Leader, and not the cow boy bravado that has been the hallmark of the Bush Administration.
Republican policies in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East, etc have done America and Americans a disservice; they have tarnished the image of the strongest nation to which the world looks for guidance, understanding and fair consideration. They have turned the US into a savage bully.
In Obama, if he can live up to his word, we see a pragmatic president who is ready to explore the forbidden avenues (Talking to the "rogue regimes" and "axis of evil"). Man is greatly empowered over other beings by his ability to reason things out and communicate with others - friends and foes alike. Relying entirely on the use of brute force as the only solution to differences of opinion or conflict of interest puts us at par with our cousins in the trees who we claim to have out-evolved.
It is time the US and the world had someone in the White House who can chart a new course away from the catastrophic bearing that Bush has set since Sept-11. It is time the US had someone who realises that strong arm tactics do not break the backs of terrorists as Bush and Blair would want us to believe, but instead give the Osamas a propaganda weapon with which to stir hatred and recruit young radicals even in America's own backyard. (I believe the Iraq war has unleashed more anti-American/anti-West sentiments in Iraq, the Arab and Islamic World, and elsewhere than it has tamed).
Obama is right; talking to Cuba, trading and investment there is the best solution to the half-century stand off. Arrogance and selective intransigence with countries and groups that happen to have a different culture, religion, ideology or opinion undermines the democratic principles and advocacy for freedom and human rights that the US and the Western World claim to be built upon.
Welcome Obama, It can be done, play your part. You may not succeed, but we are told Rome was not built in a day. The little that you initiate in the right direction should, with the support of the Americans and the World (the majority of which, I believe, know better than the likes of Bush) should serve as a new hope for a peaceful and harmonious coexistence.