Barack Obama, the man who is arguably the most powerful person on Earth, is still only a politician, as opposed to a pop star or a sportsperson. Yet his admirers range from young children and teenagers to hard-nosed businessmen. Why?
I asked my nine-year-old this question. His ready answer? “Because he is good and he kind of sounds like he cares.” I couldn’t agree more. Here’s a young child that has a very skeletal understanding of politics if any and, given his age, no huge interest in world affairs. But he’s been drawn to this transformational, charismatic man who created history and changed the face of American politics forever by becoming its first-ever black president.
Winning the support of one’s own would have been understandable; it would have benefited every person of colour in the United States to see him rise to power. Yet given a choice between voting in the first woman president, who as it happened was hugely popular in her own right, and a relatively unknown stranger who – given the odds – stood barely a chance, almost every corner of America (and I dare say the rest of the world) went with Obama.
Drawn to his mesmerising oratory and transported to a magical world by his incredible conviction and self-belief, we collectively suspended our disbelief and traversed this journey with him, adopting his victory as our own.
Only in America
Not surprisingly, it was Obama himself who explained the extraordinariness of his win better than anyone else by stating in his acceptance speech that his was a story that “could only happen in America”. It’s the story of an underdog’s victory, a story of the triumph of hope, hard work and ambition.
Obama is a man who has risen above his circumstances, a man with the intellect to match his looks, a man with the courage to conquer and the language to give the world a running commentary of his rapid progress; and above all, a square peg that fits perfectly in a round hole – a black ‘white’ man. It can’t get any better than this.
I have often wondered if Obama would be so attractive to us if he were white. The answer is probably no – because a ‘white’ man with Obama’s qualities does not contradict any stereotype. But in a world where a successful black man is rarely anything but a pop star or a sportsperson, it broke established views to see him fitting into the elite ‘white’ man’s shoes so easily.
Not endowed with the best of backgrounds, he got himself an Ivy League education, sounded like he had every right to be where he now is, and got us all to believe in the impossible.
Obama might be looking into a camera, but when he speaks it feels like he is a friend, an ally, whose presence means you are somehow insulated from the world’s problems. His enthusiasm and his oversimplified one-line solutions help children relate to him. When he rolls up his sleeves and waxes eloquent about undoing some wrong, he sounds like a child in a war game, yet galvanises even cynical adults into action.
Uplifting speech
Obama’s visit to Ireland could be just what we as a nation need at this point. His sheer presence could help us lift ourselves out of this sense of helpless despair. Perhaps an uplifting speech from him would provoke people to help themselves out of this economic gloom rather than wait for an external force to bail us out.
More than Obama the president and Obama the man – who, like a hero returning from war, will bring us the story of evil Osama bin Laden’s death – it is the idea of ‘Obama’ which has endeared him to millions around the world.
Of course, we love being a part of his journey and the vicarious pleasure that this gives lifts us from the relative ordinariness of our lives and transcends us to a world where hope and positivity crush defeat and scepticism into submission.
Yes, we love the idea that is ‘Obama’ – and his Irish roots help, too.
Priya Rajsekar is a freelance writer and co-founder of College Canteen, a student- academic social network.
priya@college-canteen.com
