Opinion

Hope and Change:

Looking beyond the Economy to America’s Moral Peril

By Jennifer Conkie

This month, we bore witness to a remarkable first in American history: the election of an African-American president. As the world spirals into economic crisis, we may be distracted from some of our idealism as hope gives way to fears about money, jobs and basic stability. Yet I am keeping my eye on other potential bankruptcies – moral and environmental. What leadership can we hope for from President-elect Barack Obama on critical human rights and climate issues, with the economy claiming all of his attention? Because it isn't an exaggeration to say that the future of the world depends on how the U.S. pulls through this next period of its existence on all of these fronts. I commend the brilliant Ronald Wright to you, and in particular his new book, What is America? As his previous writing has explained, civilizations fail through their own overconsumption and greed, and in the case of the greatest superpower on earth, the stakes are even higher. The United States will pull most or all of the world along with it into collapse, if it teeters over the brink it is delicately balanced on now.

The sheer necessity of change

And this is why Europeans and so many others around the world join in the chorus, heaping messianic metaphors on President-elect Obama's shoulders. Beyond great expectations and the mantra "hope and change" lies the sheer necessity of significant change, for all of us. And I am talking about moral change, in relation to not only greed and overconsumption, but also the related problems of arrogance, ignorance, hatred, hegemony and discrimination.

Americans themselves feel expiated, for now, as if electing a black man places them in a new Eden, the stain of slavery wiped clean. The collective consciousness of the nation is excited, like a child who has been pardoned, and can go out to play again. Anything is possible, because the past is truly past. So the nation hopes. Obama is Moses, Jesus, Kennedy and King wrapped into one, and it's not just because of the incandescent melodies of his speeches, which seem delivered as if from pulpits, or his calm leaderly style, or the depth of his own Christian faith. It's also because of the redemptive potential of the symbol he is, the symbol of possibility.

Fortunately, it seems likely that President-elect Obama is so much more. Possessed of a superior intellect, an excellent education, and a grace and a calm that suggest he will do well in the eye of the storm, he also has a remarkable wife, a Harvard educated lawyer herself, calling to mind the Clinton power couple (apologies to the Obamas, who may not like the parallel).

After all the promises, will he act?

So perhaps that means he will be far more potent as an agent of change, and able to do something about other moral problems the Americans face. Lest we forget about other moral challenges in America, little mentioned in all the excitement about a black man as President, what about the oppression and sad history of native peoples, the ongoing racism and struggles of Mexicans and other ethnic minorities, immigration, Guantánamo Bay, torture, and the USA's international record on human rights. For example, Obama was quick to say that he was ending Guantánamo Bay, shortly after elected, but will he also act?

And an even less popular topic than race: gender. What will this new president do for women? With such an intelligent, strong and career-minded wife and two young daughters, on top of his constitutional law bent, I am trusting that he will care about women's issues in a deeply personal way. His voting and action record on women's issues are excellent: for abortion, for pay equity and protection from discrimination, legislation to help women with economic security and safety, protection and assistance programs for women and children in domestic abuse, mentoring programs and other forms of positive assistance in the workforce, particularly in traditionally male areas such as engineering and science, and so on.

"The 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling"

That the Democratic race was between a woman and a black man was historic. Promoting and supporting the advancement of women to top leadership positions in the world is a vital part of the change needed in today's world. President-elect Obama has wisely invited Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State, and she has accepted, the third extraordinary woman to do so, after Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice. They will be a formidable team. Those who voted for Senator Clinton to be America's first woman president – "the 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling," as she referred to them in the last speech of her campaign – were trailblazers, harbingers of change in themselves, and Obama is no doubt aware of their significance to his mandate.

And now the question, as we watch and wait, is: will this astonishing young President act to create change in the areas of human rights and the build-up of credit in America's moral bank? Will these be high priorities for his Presidency? We wait, watch, and hope. Our future depends on it.