Opinion

Obama Is the Man of the Times
By Dr. Ghulam M. Haniff
St. Cloud, MN

For all those who yearn to make America a better place, and the world more humane for the future generations, November 4, 2008 is a momentous day. It is on that day, the presidential election of 2008, that citizens of this republic are given a clear choice to select a leader. They can either choose one who would follow the failed policies of the past or the other who would lead the country into a new direction.

As for the American Muslim and Pakistani communities there is but one choice. That is to vote for Barack Obama.

While the two communities have certain reservations about Obama he is clearly the lesser of two evils under the current political climate. He would be a natural ally of the two communities had it not been for the present circumstances. Whether he likes it or not he has come to be identified with the two groups marginalized in the society. The more he tries to distance himself the more he is pushed into their embrace.

As for the other, John McCain, his campaign rhetoric has been punctuated by the use of the offensive term, Islamic terrorism, even as the political season is coming to an end. Weeks before the national elections, his campaign instigated the delivery of 20 million hour long videos maligning Islam so obscenely that someone has compared that with the most vulgar form of pornography. These were sent in the local newspapers to the voters in the battleground states.

McCain has yet to condemn this last minute dirty trick, or even to acknowledge that it has occurred. Since the source of this video, called “Obsession” has been traced to Israe, people wonder whether Sen. Joe Lieberman had anything to do with it. He is the main backer of candidate John McCain.

In this election cycle Islamophobia has been hysterically whipped up, deeply and intensely, by those campaigning under the Republican ticket. Despite frequent Muslim condemnation Republican candidates continued to use such obscene terms as “Islamic terrorism” and “Islamofascism.”

At the moment the whole world is watching and praying for Obama’s victory. His election as President of the most powerful country would send an unmistakable message of hope to the formerly colonized in the Third World countries.

The world is changing rapidly. The colonized nations are rising to new heights. The administration in Washington continues to be reluctant to accept the fact of emergence of such countries as China, India, and Brazil as well as Indonesia and Mexico, because those are mostly populated by the people of “color.” This has to change. Obama is much more likely to deal with this reality than his Republican competitor.

For the first time in five hundred years the previously colonized, the “colored natives,” the doomed, the damned, the dispossessed, the wretched of the earth see a silver lining on the horizon. There is no doubt that Obama will be sympathetic to their plight. As for McCain he sees only one solution and that is to “bomb, bomb, bomb,” as he has said in reference to Iran during his campaign.

It is most unfortunate that the Pakistani community failed to develop a meaningful relationship with Obama. He was open and available to them. Chicago has one of the largest Pakistani communities in the nation. But the Pakistanis living there did not have the initiative or the foresight to get in touch with the political activist known as Barack Obama. Several Pakistani and Muslim organizations are touted to exist in the Chicago, and elsewhere in the nation, though in the end they have turned out to be merely paper representations devoid of any substance.

Similarly, the handwriting was on the wall early on for Pakistan to get in touch with Obama. There was ample time, even after he declared his candidacy, for a single telephone call to establish contact, but there is no one in that country who understands the dynamics of American politics. Those few who have gone back after living in the United States for a few years are, of course, also in the same boat.

Many prominent people in Pakistan have come to regret this failure as have the local expatriate community. However, Pakistani Americans can still recoup the loss by massively turning out on the day of the election and showing their support for Obama.

------------------------------------------------------------------------