I am following the onslaught of Obama by the Christian right in USA. I found this, it sums

it all up for me.

Obamas thoughts on religion and politics.

We join people in your country and around the world in congratulating you on becoming the President-elect of the United States. Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place. We note and applaud your commitment to supporting the cause of peace and security around the world. We trust that you will also make it the mission of your presidency to combat the scourge of poverty and disease everywhere.

We wish you strength and fortitude in the challenging days and years that lie ahead. We are sure you will ultimately achieve your dream, making the United States of America a full partner in a community of nations committed to peace and prosperity for all.

from Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa, to Senator Barack Obama, the first black president-elect of the United States of America.

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.