Only in America (part VI), Anthony Barnett

Anthony Barnett — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:37:42 +0000

In the sixth part of his exchange with KA Dilday, Anthony Barnett realises that Obama's victory was hardly as comprehensive as it seemed. Catch up with part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5.

Dear Kay,

You are right to mull it over. There are big issues to be addressed, from celebrity to Afghanistan not to speak of the recession. But not immediately. I had a shock about 36 hours afterwards. I'd known - I'd put it as strongly as that - since January that Barack Obama could win and that in his case his race would not prevent this. I suppose I must have been too confident that he would. It was only afterwards that I suddenly saw how close it was. Obama needed Lehman Brothers to turn all the "palling around with terrorists" junk into froth.

One American in three did not vote at all! Most Americans did not vote for Obama. He got 66 million to McCain's 58 million votes. Nearly a quarter of the US's 300 million plus population are under 18, still leaving over 230 million of which less than 130 million voted. Obama got the actual votes of barely more than one in four American adults. He and his supporters must do something about the extent of what remains, in effect, a form of disenfanchisement in the USA.

The picture that summed it up for me was in the series released onto Flickr by his official photographer who recorded the day of his election.

He seems to be on his way to making his acceptance speech. Michele's head is somewhat ghostlike in the foreground on the left. They are in a screened area, a sign of the separation they are now entering, and the top of the Sears building can be seen, symbol of the Chicago they are leaving. Obama does not have his usual poise and command. He is looking inwards, taking a measure of having achieved what he campaigned for. The master of the crowd and the stump speech he is now taking on having the job with a recession bearing down. There is no sense of panic, but there is a sense of an impact, of his realising that it really has happened. It was when I looked at this that I recognised the other truth implied by this - it really might not have happened!

Anthony

Anthony Barnett is the founder of openDemocracy.net

Photo courtesy of BarackObamaDotCom via Flickr.

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Only in America (part VI), Anthony Barnett