POLITICS remains an interesting phenomenon and, as we have seen both in the United States and the Ivory Coast, political tides can shift very quickly. The majority will of the people is often equated with the will of God.
In the United States, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed by President Barack Obama and Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev last April, has been ratified in the United States Senate, and is seen as a legislative victory for Mr Obama and all those who wish to see a world with fewer nuclear weapons.
Clearly, the president is not listening to critics who said he was supposed to see the recent mid-term elections as a referendum on his tenure in office. Despite his party’s loss of majority, some major successes have been achieved in the “lame-duck” session.
Since the November ballot, he has secured passage of an economic package that nearly equals his original stimulus package in size and has achieved the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on gays serving in the military – a major election promise.
President Obama has also secured an extension of health benefits for 9/11 workers on the Twin Towers. Arrayed against the congressional turbulence from the Republican Party, these results are impressive for any legislative term, and especially for a “lame- duck” session and a politically wounded president.
Leadership makes a difference, especially when exercised in the genuine national interest. What is certain, however, is that Mr Obama remains a powerful force in American and global politics when making the case that he is genuinely working in the national interest rather than in a purely partisan manner.
On the continent of Africa, shameless politics of power is being played out where the incumbent refused to bow when his time was up, ignored the constitutional proviso limiting the tenure of a president to two five-year terms, and chose to run in this year’s election.
Elected in 2000 for a five-year term, Laurent Gbagbo was given a seventh successive year in power in November 2006 under a United Nations plan to find lasting peace. Last year’s election was the first presidential polls in ten years.
Typical of the African leaders who have driven their countries to the knees by holding on to office, symbolised by the incorrigible President Robert Mugabe in southern Africa, Gbagbo insists the “sovereign will” of Ivorians will triumph.
He continues to dismiss threats of forcible removal by regional economic bloc ECOWAS as an assault on this sovereignty, which he has evidently trampled upon, and warns that his removal could precipitate more crises in his country.
Some in Africa say that Gbagbo seems to be implying the world must choose the lesser evil: to live with his presidency, however rotten the planks on which it stands, or grapple with the prospect of removing him and setting Ivory Coast ablaze.
