Half-Black or Female?

OK, back to serious news analysis after one week of satire and entertainment news.

By Uncle Cheng

Do you worry about the United States? I do. In recent months I have heard quite a few of my Chinese friends say things like “America is going bankrupt” or “America is finished - China is the future.”

But it is not just the constant drop in the value of the US dollar, and hence our own money, that is worrying.

Many Chinese seem to think the U.S. has lost its magic touch. They see the world going in one direction and America in another. I do not know about you, but I find these feelings very troubling.

This is because, despite its many defects, America remains a very important nation and everyone benefits from a rich, stable America. As the old saying states “When America sneezes, the whole world catches a cold.”

The truth is that America’s reputation in the world has been profoundly damaged by President Bush and his cronies. It seems amazing how quickly America has been able to destroy its accumulated international goodwill but that is what has happened.

About a year ago I explained in a previous column why I favoured Obama. A year later I see Barack Hussein Obama as America’s greatest hope for the future. Why, you may ask, do I support the half-black, quarter-or-so Muslim Obama?

Precisely because he is half black and a bit Muslim. He is the only person who stands a chance of transforming the global image of America. Obama was right to claim: “The day I am inaugurated, the world will look at America differently."

I also think the vast majority of the world’s population outside America will support Obama for President. That’s about 6.5 billion people!

People the world over can identify with Obama because he had a black Kenyan father, a white American mother, an Indonesian stepfather, and a Muslim education in Jakarta followed by an American university. Obama is the only person who as President can act as a bridge to the Islamic world, and a bridge to the many poor people in the world.

A leading Canadian politician expressed it well when he said: “It's clear Barack Obama would be the first globalized American leader, the first leader for whom internationalism would be in his veins."

I see the image of a Muslim terrorist, who is trained to hate America, switching on his TV and seeing an American President who is half black, has an Arabic middle name, and went to a Muslim school. How can the terrorist hate such a man?

On another matter I was greatly amused to read that Obama’s rival, Hillary Clinton, has been accused of being an opportunist and of lacking integrity. I ask you — are not all politicians opportunists and dishonest? Or will Obama prove to be the exception in that regard as well?

But this is not to say I dislike Hillary Clinton. Actually I like her. I am amused to think of Bill Clinton returning to the White House as ‘First Man’. And Hillary would be America’s first female President — also good for America’s image in the world.