The First Black President
By Dr. Syed Amir
Bethesda, MD
Until the later part of the 20th century, the only blacks seen in the White House were cooks, butlers, and ushers, who were there to serve the president and his family. Any social visits were unheard of.
In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, in an unprecedented move, asked Dr. Booker Washington, president of a newly established black college at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, to visit him in the White House. Even more daring, the president invited him to stay for dinner with his family. As the news leaked out, it caused an outrage, prompting a newspaper editor in New Orleans to remark that the president had acted as if “the negro is the social equivalent of the White man.”
Since those dark days, America has taken impressive strides in achieving racial equality. A little over a century after Booker Washington’s controversial visit to the presidential mansion on January 20, 2009, an African-American, Barack Hussein Obama, was formally sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, the first non-white to occupy that office since the birth of the republic 220 years ago. In his inaugural address, he wistfully noted that less than sixty years ago his father might not have been served at a restaurant in Washington. Ironically, President Obama and his family will be living in the majestic mansion, completed around 1800 and built largely by the labor of African-American slaves. While he is not a descendent of slaves, his wife, Michael Obama, is.
America got rid of the monarchy more than two centuries ago, yet, many of its trappings have survived. The installation of an American president is more like the coronation of a king than the unobtrusive induction of a prime minister in a parliamentary democracy. For months, the Obama inauguration had evoked much anticipation and excitement, because of its unique historic nature. The extensive publicity given to the inauguration ceremony drew much business to Washington, a city with a population of less than six-hundred thousand. Hotel accommodation in the city and suburbs had long sold out, as an estimated two million visitors descended upon Washington. The public celebrations started several days before the event, with concerts, receptions, and numerous inauguration balls enlivening the capital. On the day itself, huge crowds gathered along the parade route and the National Mall long before sunrise and waited for hours in the biting cold weather to watch the ceremony and the parade.
The swearing-in ceremony at the US Capital observed a tradition set over two centuries ago which all presidents have followed. The only exceptions were the first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams. George Washington took his oath of office on April 30, 1789, in New York that at the time served as the temporary capital. His arrival at his inauguration, in keeping with the times, was much less spectacular than of President Obama’s. The inauguration proceedings initiated on Saturday with a ceremonial train ride from Philadelphia, following the example of Abraham Lincoln who Mr. Obama idolizes. In contrast, George Washington arrived at New York after several days, having traveled from his home in Virginia by coach, horseback and boat. He never lived in the White House, since it was still under construction. John Adams, who was installed in Philadelphia, the first capital of the country, briefly lived in the White House when the capital shifted to Washington in 1800.
Installation ceremonies have not always proven propitious. One of the past presidents, William Harrison, took his oath of office in 1841 in the open and without a coat or a hat as a fierce snow storm raged in Washington. He took nearly two hours to deliver his inaugural address, unfortunately caught pneumonia in the process and died after serving for only one month -- the shortest presidential term on record.
Traditionally, the bitterness generated during campaigns is forgotten soon after elections. In fact the sight of incoming and outgoing presidents driving together from the White House and appearing jointly at the swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol powerfully showcases the tradition of peaceful transfer of power, the hallmark of a democratic system. However, John Adams, who lost his bid for reelection in 1800, was so unhappy with the outcome that he did not bother to show up at the inauguration of his successor, Thomas Jefferson. He left Washington in the dark the night before the ceremony by a horse-drawn carriage for his home town in Massachusetts. The ceremony went ahead anyway without him.
The parades, inaugural balls and much of the pomp and ceremony are over. Now, the new president faces the reality of serious national and international problems left behind by his predecessor. Of immediate concern is the searing economic crisis the country is facing; nothing like it has been experienced since the days of the Great Depression in the early thirties. Some of the pledges he made during the campaign, such as the closure of Guantanamo Bay detention facility and outlawing of torture, have already been redeemed.
Planning for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq within a period of 16 months is also underway, although there is a rising opposition to the move in the Republican and conservative circles. Unlike former President Bush, Obama administration has moved fast to address the festering dispute between Israel and Palestinians, as indicated by the appointment of former Senator John Mitchell, an Arab-American, as high-powered, special envoy. Obama’s pronouncements in support of Israel during the election campaign notwithstanding, there are indications that the US policy may be cautiously shifting away from total partisanship and bias in favor of Israel. In the context of war in Afghanistan, it is likely that the new president will expect Pakistan to show a greater commitment to the fight against al- Qaeda and Taliban who have found a safe haven in the Waziristan areas. However, the fragile Zardari Government that has lost control of large swath of land in the NWFP, including the Swat valley, may not be capable of doing much more than it has done already. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden and his lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri have started a despicable campaign damaging to Muslim interests worldwide. In taped messages, they have launched personal attacks on President Obama; Zawahiri characterizing him as a House Negro, a demeaning epithet. These rantings are gleefully publicized in exquisite details by the Western news media.
Few presidents in history have embarked upon their terms of office with the same reservoir of international goodwill and optimism as has Mr. Obama. The coming twelve months are crucial as they are likely to tell whether his presidency will be both successful and transformational.
