Is Obama a socialist?

I have been reading how much of the American media, and also some of my American friends compare Obama to a socialist or a Scandinavian. The question I will seek to share some views on in this blogpost is; is he?

Media in Sweden, Denmark and my homeland Norway are across the board happy about Obama being elected as the 44th President of the United States of America. This is also the case in the Christian media I have been following.

The Democratic Party and Republican Party are both viewed as clearly part of the conservative political block if compared by Nordic standards. And if we should put a color on them both it would be dark blue.(blue conservative, red being socialist leaning) I would say that pretty much all of the political parties here in Scandinavia has a socialistic foundation. The word socialist used as the worst word the republican party could come up with is not something I as a Scandinavian would understand or be able to relate to if used on Obama’s politics. By our standards he is far from a socialist.

What is Obamas model ?

Obamas political model deploys civic nationalism to transcend ethnic diversity. Many of Tuesday’s revelers were waving the stars and stripes, or sporting it on some part of their dress. No right-wing Republican could insist more than Obama does on American uniqueness, exceptionalism, manifest destiny. His proclaimed purpose is “to make this century the next American century”. If George W Bush said that, we from the rest of the world might regard it as rank nationalist arrogance. Because it’s Obama, we somehow accept it.

Now comes the test. As he acknowledged in his sober acceptance speech, America has a huge mountain to climb. The very circumstances that ensured his victory make it more difficult for him to succeed. One can argue about “what would have happened if …”, but it’s indisputable that the campaign turned decisively in his favor after September’s financial meltdown. Now the crisis is really hitting the real economy, on his chosen terrain of jobs, homes, savings and healthcare for ordinary Americans. He inherits a soaring national debt from Bush, who presided over a massive redistribution of wealth from future generations to the present one. The country faces two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a host of other challenges around the world.

America divided

Meanwhile, America itself is still divided. The gulf between red and blue may even be more difficult to bridge than that between black and white. Many Americans are still irrationally suspicious of Barack Hussein Obama, but an entirely rational observer could conclude that his instincts are more socially and cultural liberal than those of a cultural-conservative Republican, and less economically liberal than those of a libertarian Republican. To overcome those concerns, he would have to govern from the centre or even centre-right, disappointing his own supporters and taking on some triumphalist Democrats in Congress.

Has he got what it takes: in himself, his team, and the power resources at his disposal? I spent the days before the vote talking to not a few Washington insiders, including some well placed in his campaign. Their unanimous refrain was: we don’t know. We don’t know which of the many policy options he’ll plump for; we don’t know who he’ll choose for the key posts; we don’t know what he’ll be like on the job. Few presidential candidates have had less of an executive or legislative track record from which to guess their future performance in a job like no other.

Is Obama a Scandinavian?

On one thing all agree: if he can run the country the way he has run his campaign – one of the most effective ever – then America will be in good hands. But a country is not a campaign. He is, in every sense of that over-used word, cool. He barely looked excited even as he accepted the presidency before an ecstatic crowd. As president, his hard-power resources may be somewhat diminished, but no one in the world currently has more soft power. Where the Bush administration used military “shock and awe” to hunt down weapons of mass destruction that turned out not even to be there, Obama is himself a weapon of mass attraction.

And he can appeal to what is perhaps America’s greatest power resource: the can-do spirit of innovation, enterprise and hard work, mixed with civic patriotism, which this country invites everyone to embrace, wherever they come from. This is the promise summed up in what Obama called in his acceptance speech “that American creed: Yes We Can”. The American creed they were chanting outside the White House on that unforgettableTuesday night.

Is “the Obama model” the “Scandinavian model”? Far from it. Should it be? Probaly not. I do think however, Obama should turn his eyes and ears this way (once i a while) and ask if there are things that would be helpful in leading the greatest nation out of the mess created by Bush, and a political system that clearly has not been working for quite some time. We certainly turn our eyes and ears the american way quite alot.

We can’t let little countries screw around with big companies like this—companies that have made big investments around the world.

- a Chevron lobbyist, who asked not to be identified, speaking about a lawsuit brought on behalf of thousands of Indigenous Ecuadorian peasants over the dumping of billions of gallons of toxic oil wastes into their region’s rivers and streams. Chevron is pressuring the Bush administration to eliminate special trade preferences for Ecuador if its government doesn’t quash the case. (Source: Newsweek)

in the name of the counter-terrorism, the US government have committed a few inhuman acts. Places and events like “Guantanamo” and “the Iraq invasion” are two on a long list.

But of all the ridiculous things they did in the name of protecting American security, putting Nelson Mandela on a terrorism watch list may be the most absurd. MSNBC had a note about it on there site.

” Who knew Nelson Mandela was on the US terror watch list? Well as of today, he’s not anymore.

This morning, President Bush signed into law a bill granting Secretary Rice the authority to waive travel restrictions on President Mandela and other members of the African National Congress (ANC). The bill was sponsored by Democratic Sens. John Kerry and Sheldon Whitehouse, along with Republican Sen. Bob Corker.

The senators say Mandela and ANC members remained on the list “for activities they conducted against South Africa’s apartheid regime decades ago.” They also said in their written statement that the removal “end[s] an embarrassing impediment to improving U.S.-South Africa relations.”

USA should have a thought or two about the next South African leader however, Mr. Zuma. I don’t think he in any way should be categorized as a terrorist, but maybe on the list of unsuitable African leaders?

See Mandelas life in pictures here.