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| Victorious Obama |
Some four
years ago, after President George Bush had ruled America for good eight years,
a young Afro-American by name Barack Obama emerged on the scene to ask for the
coveted presidency of the world’s most talked about country- the United States
of America, USA for short.
Because he
is a black American, the whole of Africa as much as I know, threw their weight
behind him. Not only their weight but also their wealth and life. I remember
some people in Nigeria tried to raise funds for his campaign just see if, by
both prayers and physical funding, a black man could assume the presidency of
the USA.
Since after
Martin Luther and Jersey Jackson, no black man had come close to occupying the
seat of the world’s most coveted presidency. Barack Obama represented change
from the status quo, something away from the monotonous white guys who had
since monopolized the American Presidency.
Soon, Obama
t-shirts, face caps, car stickers and even street fliers and banners were all
over the the place. Soon, the Barack Obama phenomenon became a household
discourse. CHANGE was the operative word. No one talked about experience or
even antecedent. All the world was rooting for was change. Let a black man
occupy that seat for a change. After all, the whites have become arrogant by
assuming that the American president is the policeman of the whole world so
much so that they stay in America and decide which countries’ presidents are
ruling well or not and should be changed or allowed to continue in office.
Once an
American president says a thing, Britain, France and Germany will follow suit
and so do Spain and Italy. Thanks for the emergence of China since the Soviet
Union was dismembered, to offer a little voice of dissent or divergence. With
our prayers, Barack Obama won the election and assumed the presidency of the
world’s most powerful country-USA.
I remember seeing blacks weep for joy during
his inauguration, that in their lifetime, the arrogance of the whites had been
halted by a black man. With Obama, the blacks called thee whites’ bluff.
The quantum
of popularity and support with which Barack Obama came to power was enough to
cause the world, if possible, to ask for a constitutional change to allow for a
third and perhaps fourth term for the American presidency. Obama was expected
to be a quintessential black role model.
The
question today is has Barack Obama lived up to expectation? Is he still so
popular and widely accepted even among the blacks that trooped out to vote for
him? Today, are all those voices clamouring and calling for his re-election?
WHERE DID BARACK OBAMA GO WRONG? Here was a man who was largely believed to be
a Christian which actually made churches in Nigeria to organize night vigil
prayers for his success to usher in change in America. Barack Obama simply
proved that he is not divine and that his black connection notwithstanding, he
is still American.
He
continued the George Bush policy of dethronement of governments considered
either unfriendly or disloyal to America. To crown his mischief, he dabbled
into the vexatious issue of gay marriage and passed it into law thus
disappointing Africa. He did not stop there. He also delved into what
Christians dread as “666” phenomenon, by tagging every American to a
radioactive substance to be injected into their bodies, especially their
foreheads which Christians believe is anti Christ. Indeed, Obama has ushered in
the era of the mark of the beast long prophecied in the bible. He attracted
disenchantment. Today, Barack Obama who to Africans, hitherto, should have
continued his second term bid unopposed, is struggling to remain afloat.
Opinion polls in America show him running neck to neck and side by side with
his white challenger Mitt Romney with no degree of certainty as to his emerging
victorious at the end of the day. Many Nigerians especially of the Christian
extraction today, wish he fails in his re-election bid, all because Barack
Obama has not managed popularity very well. He has run foul of betrayed
expectation. “Hosanna” has again given way to “crucify him” but this time with
good justification. The world has come to realize that there is much more to
change than the dramatis personae.
The Barack
Obama who removed Gadaffi even when he was popular among Libyans is unable to
say a definite word about Syria where evil is on the ascendency on a daily
basis.
The truth
is that today, Obama is neither carrying the world’s support for him nor their
prayers.
Indeed
there is more to change that, it should no longer be rushed at and embraced
without verification of the real contents and contexts.
Maybe if he
manages to win re-election, he will correct all bad impressions and perhaps go
ahead to do even better, but suffice it to say that for now, there is an air of
disappointment and consequent loss of enthusiasm hanging over the Obama
presidency.
This scenario is only comparable to the
APGA ascendency of the governorship of Imo State. The PDP had enjoyed a clear
eight years uninterrupted governance under Achike Udenwa and was set to enjoy
another eight years under governor Ikedi Ohakim before the bubble burst and
things took a dramatic turn around.
Ikedi
Ohakim had only finished his first four years just like Obama had done and was
campaigning for the second four years when hatred brew from every corner
against him. Everything he did was seen from the negative perspective. The once
welcomed “OCHINANWATA”- the boy king, soon became “IKIRI”; an animal notorious
for its vice-like grip on any substance and never lets go. With the IKIRI
mentality, Ikedi Ohakim
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