The Barack-o-mania

Barack Obama has become the first African-American president of the United States of America. He will go down in history as just that -- the first African American president of the United States of America. So yes, it was a historic win, and it is indeed inspiring. What was more inspiring was the massive voter turnout, an indication that the democratic process reigned over all cynicism. I would put a full stop right there.
The melodrama, however, in the Indian media, in the form of real over-the-top gushing over Obama’s victory has been quite extraordinary. Not to mention, the constant bemoaning of our own political leaders. Why can’t our politicians be more like theirs? What Obama’s rise to office shows us about our politics? Why can’t our politicians debate like American politicians? (Whinge whinge)
I woke up on Thursday morning and found the newspapers gripped by Barackomania. As I flipped page after page looking for calm nerves, every page seemed to get more and more hysterical. What Obama carries in his wallet, Will Obama grant Modi a visa? Obama’s new home, Obama’s new pet…
An NDTV online poll asks Why Indians love Obama. And the responses made me wonder what the adulation was based on. “because he is hot” (okay, I’ll let that one go), “he is a leader with selfless vision… he understands the needs of the common man”, “he is a person of great struggle…” more on his charisma, charm…
Barkha Dutt in her column in Hindustan Times said, confessing to being all teary eyes at Obama’s acceptance speech said: “The thing about Obama is that he makes you believe in that old cliché: be true to yourself. In a cynical, crumbling world, that alone is a miracle. That’s why Oprah cried. And so did the rest of us who were lucky enough to watch a night that will change America and the world.”
But will it? Obama has attained rock star-like status around the world, the new inspirational pin-up boy, an image certainly hard to carry off by our own parliamentary men in white. So the excitement around young B.O. is understandable. He is 47 years old, is suave, a great orator, very comfortable with the cameras, and ‘makes you believe in that old cliché: be true to oneself’. Not to mention that fantastic word that brings tears to everybody’s eyes – change!
But to imagine that politics has been revolutionised by his victory would be rather naïve. Especially because the one nagging question that still remains to be answered is: What does he stand for? And what’s beneath the rhetoric of change? And is politics merely about the administrative details of tax cuts and competing health policies, the if, when and how of withdrawal of troops from Iraq, of the justified political interventions as opposed to the unjustified? Or is it about ideologies that guide larger visions for society, about competing ideas that aim to transform the way society is organised?
It seems easy to make our own politicians the objects of derision. They are not sophisticated and well-spoken, they are mired in identity politics. But if we move beyond personality politics and all the gushing about Obama’s ‘struggle’, his diverse background, the honesty in his voice, his candour, and the fact that he is the first Black president of the United States, it is worth noting that none of it is actually a good substitute for real politics, and that we would have to wait and see. Does he retire into the mundane world of administration or does he really take stands that would alter society. Until then, get a grip!