Daily Dose 11/12/08 IN OU TIME OF JOY, SOBER OBSERVATIONS BY A GEAT UUGUAYAN AUTHOR

Subject: Eduardo Galeano: Hopes and Fears
Eduardo Galeano: Hopes and FearsThe Progressive posted November 7, 2008

http://www.progressive.org/mag/galeano110708.html

Hopes and Fears
by Eduardo Galeano

Once in office, will Obama prove that his bellicose threatsagainst Iran and Pakistan were just words spoken to lure ina certain category of voter during the election? Let's hopeso. And let's hope he isn't for a moment tempted to repeatthe exploits of George W. Bush. After all, Obama had thedignity to oppose the war in Iraq while the Republican andDemocratic parties cheered the announcement of thisbloodbath.

During his campaign, "leadership" was the most frequentlyused word in Obama's speeches.

As President, will he continue to believe that his countrywas chosen to save the world, a toxic idea that he shareswith almost all of his colleagues? Will he continue toassert that the U.S. is the leader of the world and believein its messianic mission to command?

Let's hope that the current crisis, which is shaking theimperial foundations, will at least serve to provide theincoming government with a healthy dose of realism andhumility.

Will Obama accept that racism is permissible when practicedagainst countries that his country invades? Is it notracism to meticulously tally the deaths of the invaders ofIraq while ignoring with Olympian arrogance the far largernumber of Iraqi dead? Isn't it racist that the world hasfirst, second, and third class citizens and first, second,and third class dead?

Obama's victory was universally celebrated as a victory inthe battle against racism. Let us hope that from his firstacts as President he accepts and lives up to this beautifulresponsibility.

Will the Obama Administration confirm yet again thatDemocrat and Republican are two names for the same party?

Let us hope that the will for change that these electionshave consecrated is more than just a promise and a hope.May the new Administration have the courage to break withthe tradition of the single party disguised as two that atthe hour of truth behave almost identically while theypretend to be fighting one another.

Will Obama make good on his promise to close the sinisterprison at Guantanamo?

Let us hope so, and that he will end the sinister blockadeof Cuba.

Will Obama continue to believe that it is a good idea tobuild a wall along the Mexican border to keep Mexicans fromcrossing into the US., while vast sums of money move acrosswithout ever showing a passport?

During the campaign Obama never candidly discussed thesubject of immigration. Let us hope that from today on, nolonger having to worry about losing votes, he will be ableand willing to abandon this idea of the wall--which wouldbe far longer and more shameful than the Berlin Wall--andindeed all walls that violate people's freedom of movement.

Once President, will Obama, who supported the recent giftof $700 billion to the banking industry, continue the usualpractice of privatizing profits while socializing losses?

I fear that he will, though I hope that he won't.

Will Obama sign and abide by the Kyoto agreement, or willhe continue to allow the biggest polluter on the planet topollute with impunity? Will he govern for people, or forautomobiles? Will he shift the devastating course of a wayof life in which the few steal the destiny of the many?

I fear he won't, though I hope he will.

Will Obama, the first black President of the United States,realize the dream of Martin Luther King, or the nightmareof Condoleezza Rice?

This White House, which is now his house, was built with the labor of black slaves. Let's hope he never forgets that.

[Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and journalist, is author of Open Veins of Latin America and Memories of Fire.]