The world is watching Obama's party

Carlyle Laurie

19th January, America’s President elect Barack Obama made a statement at Lincoln memorial saying he is as 'hopeful as ever'.

As America is hopeful of a ‘newer-brighter’ future, so is the rest of the world. As to sum it up in a statement, ‘When America sneezes, the world catches a cold’.

The Bush administrations eight years of blunders not only put the U.S in jeopardy, but left a world impact. Like a visually impaired man or woman, who suddenly loses his/her guide dog – the world is left helpless, searching for solutions which few, if any have managed to find.

Democracies with free markets, economies – have felt the worst impact, forcing Leaders to retreat into a huddle, turning to a more soviet like tactic to bail themselves out of the hole, becoming more Protectionist.

Obama knows that when the ‘When the world sneezes, America doesn’t catch a cold’, it works the other way round.

This fact and this fact alone, will put a mountain of pressure on his shoulders. His job profile will be not only to ‘mother’ America back to its feet, but also the rest of the world, which seems to be reeling under the ‘Bushism’ syndrome, for which until now neither Europe or Asia have found a solution to, Africa doesn’t stand a chance.

The mountain he has before him, will be a mountain indeed to cross – a fact that he himself knows all too well. Eight years of bad press, bad sentiment, bad policies will be hard to undo, but he’s given himself a fare chance of succeeding.

The world hopes, as much as America does that the Hillary Clinton-Obama combine will help bail us out of jail, ferry the ship out of troubled waters.

The ‘Change’ that has been promised to America has transcended more literally to the world, with others hoping that ‘Obama’s change’ will help ‘change’ their lives for the better.

The road ahead is hard, but he may take heart from a verse from the Bible.

‘The road to heaven is paved with thorns & the road to hell is paved with roses’. Nothing comes easy.

The world is watching ‘Obama’s party’ on January 20.