The Obama Doctrine Finally Emerges

Cartoon by Peter Schrank for The Economist

By the time Obama was ceremonially sworn in at the U.S. Capitol Building, he had officially been President for a little over 24 hours. His term had begun on Sunday, January 20, 2013 at noon, with Chief Justice John Roberts administering the sacred oath at a private White House function. Thus, when Mr. Obama stood up to give his inaugural address, the overall candor, confidence and policy detail of what was, essentially, a short address came from a man who was already Commander in Chief. Gone was the novice that gave an essentially long-winded speech 4 years ago. In his place stood a more confident man – grayer than the one we first met at the 2004 Boston Convention; and yet still the idealist one who eloquently spoke about his idea of America in his 2006 book ‘The Audacity of Hope.‘

Most of all, it seemed as though he was thriving in his new role as one who did not give in to Republican demands and one with a mandate from the people.

Obama’s second inaugural address was, in a word ‘feisty.’ Despite the vituperative terms conservative pundits used against the masterful document and its delivery, it was a forceful yet positive call to action; one that departed from the old ways which insist on just ‘holding truths to be self evident’ without doing what is necessary to ensure that these ‘truths’ were equitable to all equal men. Jointly, the speech also pointed an accusatory finger at those men who talked about ‘freedom [as a] gift from God’ but did not do anything to secure it for others.

Basically, Obama took it to anyone that appreciated the status quo – and in the process, his latest message to the world was that America was back. In the words of Charles Krauthammer, one of Obama’s most visceral critics, this speech basically ended both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton’s philosophies that somehow removed the federal government out of the center of American life.

To the members of the Black Diaspora, we shall explore the meaning of the Obama Doctrine in additional opinion columns. For this editorial, we need to mention that Obama focused on not just broad themes but also on the specifics on what his government will do. Totally rejecting conventional wisdom that he would compromise with the Republicans and reduce the size of government, Obama instead called out the irresponsibility of those who ‘still deny the overwhelming judgment of science’ and cede leadership to nations like China.

He talked of the middle class being more important than plutocrats because the U.S. ‘cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.’ Fox News and other conservative media houses howled ‘class warfare’ at this. Then he deftly framed gay rights, the rights of women, immigration reform and access to affordable healthcare as civil rights issues – parallel to those rights that Dr. Martin Luther King proclaimed were ‘inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.’

These things have so much relevance to every single Black person, wherever they may be. Yes – Obama’s presidency has not done much for the African American community. Black unemployment is still above 14 percent – much more than White unemployment and some blacks are howling that this is unfair and that Obama has not done his job. Many African nations are even saying Bush did more for Africa than Obama is doing for his father’s continent. But things are not as black and white as many would like to suggest.

The truth is that just like it took a second term for an Obama doctrine to emerge, it is in this second term that an Obama legacy will be formed. And just like we are surprised about the path this doctrine has taken, we just might be pleasantly surprised to find that Obama’s true legacy will not come from his direct contribution but from the simplicity of showing that a black person can do what a white one can.

Dennis Matanda,
Editor – editor@thehabarinetwork.com