America’s new President
Introduction
On 20 January 2009, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States, and the first black man to hold that office. Huge crowds gathered in Washington to see the inauguration ceremony, and millions more people around the world tuned in to watch it on television and online.
Such interest clearly shows that Obama’s election to the presidency is felt by many to be very important for America and for the rest of the world. But viewed from a sociological perspective, just what is the significance of Obama’s presidency?
Although it seems unbelievable today, as recently as the 1960s black Americans were legally segregated in parts of the US. The social effects of segregation continue to this day, with many black people facing social and economic disadvantages. That there is now a black president in the White House is definitely a cause for celebration, and also cause for reflection on the racial divisions and inequalities in America. The importance of the election of Obama within the context of a long history of racism in America is therefore the subject of the first half of the interview below.
The new president not only represents a significant change because of his race, however, but because of the global unpopularity of his predecessor, George Bush. Bush’s aggressive military response to terrorism and his unwillingness to act to combat climate change caused America’s reputation abroad to suffer considerably. Many people around the world are anxious to know how Obama will address these issues. But what difference does the election of a new American president really make to the lives of non-Americans? What power does Obama really have to solve problems that are global in scope? These are the issues Giddens turns to in the second half of the interview.
Interview
Do you think Obama's presidential campaign and election have given us any insights into race relations in contemporary America?
Right up to the election itself there were those who were saying that Obama would not make it to be President because he is black. The argument was that there is a great deal of submerged racism in America, so that people were not always stating their true intentions when they said they were intending to vote for him. When election day came along, they argued, in the privacy of the voting booth they would vote for his opponent, John McCain. This idea turned out to be false and Obama was elected with a substantial majority. It was therefore a highly important event for race relations in America, a progressive moment, demonstrating that the majority of voters are ‘colour-blind’ when it comes to electing their leader. Obama’s election could be seen as a culminating moment in many years of struggle on the part of black people to achieve greater equality within American society. Of course, it doesn’t mean that prejudice and discrimination have disappeared completely within the US – far from it. Yet having a black President sends a signal to oppressed minorities throughout the world that racism can be overcome.
Is Obama's presidency likely to have any real impact on the opportunities open to black Americans?
If Obama makes a success of his Presidency, that very fact is going to have a positive impact upon the hopes and aspirations of black Americans as a whole. One has to remember that it is only four decades ago – a short period in historical time – that blacks in the South of the US were denied virtually any civil rights at all. They were not able to sit in buses or in cafes alongside whites. So although there have been many setbacks along the way, enormous advances have been made. Obama will be as conscious as anyone that his presence as President is nowhere near enough to right a situation of many years’ standing. A far higher proportion of blacks than whites live in poverty, are unemployed, live in single parent families, or are in jail. Active policies will have to be introduced to try to further break down the barriers that produce these outcomes. Moreover the fact of the economic recession may mean that it will be especially difficult to make effective changes during the current period. For instance, unemployment is rising, and is likely to affect blacks in greater proportion than whites, given the fact that their average levels of education are lower.
In a globalizing world, what is the international significance of the election of a new American president?
What was extraordinary about the election of Obama is that more or less the whole world followed the events. The election campaign was a direct expression of globalization – the fact that we now live in an interdependent world. No previous US Presidential election had received this level of coverage. The reasons are several. The administration of George W Bush had seen American popularity sink disastrously around the world. Many people in many countries followed the election campaign because of the fact that a new government would come into being, and one that would follow a less aggressive and unilateral foreign policy. Obama’s first moves in power demonstrate that this is in fact so. He has signalled that he will seek to recover American prestige and that he will negotiate with a variety of nations rather than adopt a war-like attitude towards them. He has said his government is ready to talk to the leaders of Iran, a country dismissed by the previous American regime as part of the ‘axis of evil’; he has signalled his intention to reduce radically the numbers of nuclear warheads the US holds, in tandem with Russia doing the same. The massive coverage of the election globally shows how much the rest of the world, for better or for worse, tends to rely upon American leadership – even in those countries where anti-Americanism is rife.
All surveys show that people’s attitudes towards in the US, at least in most countries, are quite contradictory. There is a great deal of anti-Americanism, which became pronounced during the Bush years. On the other hand, even many people who express distaste for America often say it is the country they would most like to move to. So there is quite a lot of goodwill towards the US around, and Obama should have a good chance to build upon that. So he might very well be able to restore something of the moral leadership that the US once used to hold.
Obama's election campaign focused on the idea of "change we can believe in". But how far can the president of the US really make a difference to global problems, such as terrorism and climate change?
Although Obama’s election was more of a global event than any previous one in US history, and in spite of so many people looking to American leadership, in truth American power to shape world events is probably less than it was a few years ago. The invasion of Iraq showed that, although American firepower is vastly greater than any other nation, the capacity of the US to control events even in a single country is very limited. Military power does not necessarily translate into global influence – in fact, many across the world reacted strongly against America precisely because of the Iraq war. Obama will have to depend mainly on forging agreements with other nations as well as working with global institutions like the UN. But in that context he can in principle accomplish a great deal. He is going to attempt to reverse the disastrous turn of events in the Middle East following the Israeli intervention in Gaza, which is yet another situation where everyone seems to want the US to take the lead. One of the most toxic consequences of the Bush period was a failure to take action against climate change and here I am sure Obama will seek to take a new lead – internally by investing in low-carbon technologies and externally by ensuring the US plays an important role in the international discussions aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions due to take place in Copenhagen early next year.
Additional materials
Guide to related reading in Sociology
Racism and the social disadvantages that follow from it are discussed in the chapter on Race, Ethnicity and Migration. Pages 483-485 look at racial segregation in South Africa under apartheid.
When thinking about America’s ability to influence global problems and politics, the chapter on Globalization and the Changing World provides some useful context. Pages 60-62 look at three perspectives on globalization, including what each of these have to say about the power of the nation state. The chapter concludes with a section on the need for global governance to deal with challenges that affect the world as a whole. The idea of global governance is taken up again on pages 857-860 of the chapter on Politics, Government and Terrorism.
Internet links
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/us/politics/18text-obama.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Transcript of a speech delivered by Obama on March 18 2008 in which he talks about race in America, particularly the disadvantages suffered by the African American community. He says that many of these disadvantages “can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery”. The poor quality of segregated schools for black children, and laws preventing blacks from owning property “all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us”.
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php
Originally the website of Obama’s election campaign, this now contains a blog and links to other information about Obama on the web.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/20/barack-obama-inauguration-address
Text of Obama’s inauguration address, including video.
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11326407
Article that tries to unravel how and why black Americans suffer social and economic disadvantages.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/us_elections_2008/7715914.stm
The 2008 Presidential Election in figures, including a link to statistics on who voted for Obama.
Other books by Polity
Hijacking America: How the religious and Secular Right Changed what Americans Think
by Susan George
Sample PDFs: Table of Contents | Prologue
George Bush leaves the White House in January 2009 and the United States goes back to “normal,” right? Wrong, argues Susan George in this fascinating, thorough, and often chilling account of the decades-long transformation of American society and political culture. Clearly and gracefully written, it will enthrall the general reader while providing plenty of factual nourishment for the student of politics, culture, religion or international relations. And for all those who hope for a different America in the future, the first step is to hold the present one up to the light and understand how it got that way.
Published in July 2008
240pp
Copyright © Anthony Giddens 2008
The right of Anthony Giddens to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
