Can Barack Obama be the first US black president?

Barack Obama has declared himself "the Democratic nominee for president of the United States".

It’s almost a year now since Barack Obama has captured the attention of the world and not just the Americans’ attention because of his colour and age. Through him issues of race and colour were extensively raised either to show the era of favouring just white candidate, preferably of Anglo-Saxon decent is over.

If Obama is confirmed as the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, the presidential campaign will be one of the most exciting in the US history. Those fearful of black leadership have just to count successful black American politicians. The most notable are Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, although the first will remain associated with the now unpopular president Bush.

But surely Obama won’t be naïve to present himself as the first black as this will deter potential non-black voters for him. He got the support of the Americans of different races because of his ideas speaking about change. If he becomes president he will have to be the president of all the Americans. If he concentrates just on the issues of black people, he will trigger just racial confrontations in the USA.

It will also be unthinkable that the cabinet will largely be made of black members and he will give a minor role to white people to realize the black revolution his predecessors, like Martin Luther King dreamt of.

The White House can have a black president. But it’s unlikely that it will change its policies concerning major international issues. Obama will inherit issues like Iran nuclear programme, Russia’s new military policies, the Middle-East etc.

Obama still needs three stages to count on the world stage:

a) to defeat Hillary Clinton,

b) to defeat John McCain

c) to be confirmed as president.

While none of these points haven’t been confirmed yet, Obama will continue to be the centre of the campaign and he will be remembered as the first black candidate to have mounted a real challenge to the “white supremacy” running through centuries.

Personally I don’t care who wins. Whatever the results, Morocco and the USA will geographically remain the Atlantic Ocean apart. It will take just time to get visually accustomed to the new president.

Policies between the two countries usually take care of themselves because of historical relationships dating to the 18th century. The governments of the two countries are close allies. Morocco has been given the status of non-NATO ally by Washington, which has praised its support for the US-led war on terror. At the public level the USA administration is always seen with suspicion.

Obama has pledged support for Israel. He said real security came from lasting peace and he would work from the start of his administration to achieve a Palestinian state alongside an Israeli one - but with Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. This will make him look no different from whomever president will get to the White house. He can make a difference at home. But inherited foreign policies will make it hard for him change things overnight, especially policies which are the core of any decision-making like those towards Cuba, Iran and the Middle-East. But he still has Africa, a metaphorically virgin land, as anti-Americanism isn’t very widespread and people there can easily adapt to Afro-American cooperation. The hard job is in the Muslim World where religion and politics strangely mingle.

Here are some worthless pieces of advice from someone who has never been to the USA and who has more admiration to US movie, sport and pop stars than to US politicians!

1) John McCain should stop giving the impression that he is a war-monger. In a speech, he said that he was ready to give up presidential candidacy rather than be soft on the situation in Iraq and other parts of the world.

He should continue to look invigorated and vivacious as his age can play against him.

2) For Obama, he shouldn’t sound too soft when it comes to foreign policies. He still has Iran and Russia to deal with militarily. Iran is “threatening” the USA with its nuclear programme. Russia is back to the world stage through its new military policy and its huge reserves of oil and gas.

President Bush tarnished the image of the USA through his invasion of Iraq and its huge cost running into trillions of dollars. Obama has the chance to redress the situation by having more lenient approaches. Tough approaches by the current administration have brought little results. They have made the USA a more paranoiac society, fearful of many nationalities around the world. Entering the USA has become like a camel trying to go through a needle's eye!