May 29, 2009

 

Barack Obama’s Book ‘The Audacity of Hope’

 

According to Sir Francis Bacon, the eminent 17 th century philosopher, statesman and essayist, some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some to be chewed and digested. Barack Obama’s book clearly falls in the last category. It is not only an enlightening window into the mind of the most significant person of the world but also a primer for comprehending the rationale informing his policies. Yet, it avoids sermonizing or offering concrete solutions; it encourages analytical thinking.

Mr. Obama took the reins of government from an administration that had plunged the country and the world with it into a constantly increasing turmoil. The biggest recession since the early 1930s had started causing unprecedented unemployment, chaos in the financial sector and a havoc in the lives of the ordinary citizens of the country. The war in Iraq, launched with an arrogant disdain for worldwide rallies against it, had reached a virtual stalemate, and the occupation of Afghanistan had provoked an insurgency that overflowed into Pakistan. Both had become unpopular and questionable ventures, sustained through intense fear mongering.

Opposing Mr. Obama’s decision to close down Guantanamo Bay prison, former Vice President Dick Cheney contended the other day that the tortures meted out to the prisoners there had saved America from another terrorist attack. That may be so, but the nation had in the process lost its soul, the rule of law and international respect for the values it had always cherished. The message to the down trodden of the world engraved on the Statue of Liberty had lost its stirring appeal. America was never as unpopular as it had become by the end of the Bush tenure.

Whenever a nation is faced by such a challenging situation, some leader with prophetic attributes emerges on the scene to rectify it. He brings hope to his despondent people. When the British toppled the Mughal Empire in mid nineteenth century, the Muslim community went into torpor of defeat and hopelessness. Sir Syed Ahmad, a reformist, tried to rescue them from the paralysis of despondence through a series of essays showing them the glimmer of hope. I recalled the contents of one such essay while going through Mr. Obama’s book. The parallel is uncanny: both hold out hope and instill in their followers powerful values of honesty, discipline, thirst for knowledge, hard work, and a burning desire to recapture the lost dream and a life with respect and dignity.

The Hindu community of India too produced several reformists and leaders with Mahatama Gandhi leading them all. His precepts of non-violence, Satyagraha, dignity for the lowest cast –the Harijans- and equality of man irrespective of his creed, caste, and worldly worth did give rise to a new and wholesome scale of values. Although I read his book “The Search For Truth” in my early teens, I was as impacted by his thoughts as I was with the hope-inspiring essays of Sir Syed or by the book of Obama now. I find a common thread in all of them.

Mr. Obama too seeks satisfaction like Mr. Gandhi “from knowing that in some demonstrable way I have been able to help people live their lives with some measure of dignity”.

What made America great is its citizens’ adherence to a laudable set of values. These values, Mr. Obama contends, are rooted in a basic optimism about life and a faith in free will -a confidence that through pluck and sweat and smarts, each of us can rise above the circumstances of our birth. The values of equal opportunity and nondiscrimination complement our liberty. In his own words, “We value the imperatives of family and cross-generational obligations that family implies….We value patriotism and the obligation of citizenship…our mutual regard for one another: honesty, fairness, humility, kindness, courtesy, and compassion.”

Such lofty values were replaced, after 9/11, with intense hatred, witch-hunt, ethnic profiling and fear mongering by the Neo-Con policy planners and cronies of George Bush. As pointed out by Mr. Obama, the constitution offers the American people “the possibility of a genuine marketplace of ideas” . But, the regime inflicted with hubris considered the advice of even the UN as irrelevant.

Mr. Obama ran for the Presidency on a promise of restoring America’s moral standing in he world. His travels abroad and meetings with numerous world leaders over the past four months are clear indications of his efforts in this respect.

Mr. Obama is a deep thinker and his very perceptive book states clearly his views on major national issues. It is an eloquent, well-reasoned and insightful treatise on his character and ideals. One has to admire his candor and nuanced perspectives that he applies to many subjects. He believes in expending effort on finding common ground than on rhetoric widening the partisan gulf.

His presentation on ‘Faith’ is simply fascinating. He feels people desire a sense of purpose, a narrative arc, and a relief to chronic loneliness, a feeling that some body out there is watching over you, and a desire not just to travel towards nothingness.

The book’s prologue contains a series of declarations. He believes in evolution, in scientific enquiry, and global warming. He rejects politics based on racial identity, gender identity and sexual orientations. He believes in Keynesian style state intervention whenever needed but he is also a firm believer in market economy and globalization. He offers no solution to the problems that globalization presents to American manufacturing and the American working class. He has the benefit of the advice of top economists of the country.

He upholds Alexander Hamilton’s belief that American national economy should be based not on American agrarian past but on a commercial and industrial future. Only through the liberation of capital from local landed interests could America tap into its most powerful resource, that is the energy and enterprise of the American people. This says a lot about the sluggish economy of Pakistan as it continues to be subservient to the feudal economic and political structure of the country.

As a commentary on US politics over the past 30 years, Mr. Obama’s book makes piquant reading. As a memoir of someone remarkable and hailing from an unusual background, it is uplifting.

arifhussaini@hotmail.com