Editor's note
Can Barak Obama and Hu Jintao do something for the world? yes they can!
Like many of you, I have seen in Barak Obama’s victory, a new dawn for America and the world. Beyond the extraordinary achievement of a country able to overcome racial prejudice to overwhelmingly elect a black President, there is also a palpable sense of hope among millions in the United States and around the world. Here is a man with a political aura that evokes memories of Martin Luther King and especially John F. Kennedy, with his youth, eloquence and ideals. And God knows how much this bleak world needs to dream a bit. “Change” was and is a core word in his speeches, and it will take almost a miracle to change the status quo in Obama’s favour: the economy in tatters, two war fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the terrorist threat that can hit American interests anytime, anywhere. And lately Russia moving its missiles closer to the West, presents a challenging response to Bush’s
European defence shield, in a sort of Cold War re-enactment.
Can Obama deliver? Yes, he believes he can, step by step, he warns, and change might require a second mandate if it is to be continued. The priority of his administration from January 20th onwards, will be the economy, domestically and worldwide. And here President Hu Jintao and the Chinese government can help him. The fact is that the two men need each other, whether they like it or not. It’s true that the Chinese government has become a billionaire by acquiring, among other investments, US treasury bonds, during the recent years of Greenspan’s fast spending bonanza. It’s also true that America needs liquidity like a thirsty land needs water after a dry season. And why should Hu help Obama? For one thing, the Chinese prospects recently are not as rosy as they used to be. Some Guangdong factories have started to close, throwing thousands of workers out into the streets, because foreign demand for their goods, especially the demand from the States, has simply stopped. Beijing doesn’t want to see a domino effect unfold in front of its eyes, or the inevitable social upheaval that such a situation would bring.
On the other hand, if Obama resorts to protectionism in the name of the unemployed workers of Pennsylvania or Detroit, it would be disastrous for a world where the economy is global. A trade war involving America, the EU, China and other emerging economies would only complicate things and would do no good for the recession.
So in between the wealthy Chinese treasury able to inject currency, and Washington’s will to get its finances back on track, inevitably with the more interventionist hand of the government, there might lie the beginning of a solution for this messy state of affairs.
Let’s just hope that President-elect Obama can engage and be engaged by the leaders of China, India, Brazil, EU and even Russia, the ones that pull the strings of our economic world. It’s time to bank on the brazen love affair between Obama and the globe before the disenchantment period sets in.
And “yes we can’ sounds infinitely better than “God, we’re done for!”