Barack who??

This is a sequel of sorts to my earlier post on middle-class pseudo-snobbery and the first post in this blog.

I picked up the newspaper on yet another lazy sunday to see the edit page replete with columns on the new U.S. President and all kinds of analysis: from what he means for foreign policy to his familiarity with India to his wife's sex appeal. I met a friend for a few beers in the afternoon who in turn gets a call from a friend in the U.S. No points for guessing what they discuss. Obama's "presidential demeanour", acceptance speech, Sarah Palin's wardrobe and the like. Rinku and I went out for dinner this evening only to overhear folks having an intense argument on whether Obama is good for India and if Sarah was a potential nominee next time round. If you do not have a point of view on Obama (or maybe his hairstyle) today, you are not "with-it".

In contrast, I ask dozens of friends and colleagues to name the Member of Parliament from the constituency they reside in and they seldom get it right. "Queenie Dhody" and "Rohit Bal" are familiar names but alas elected representatives in the world's largest democracy are rarely accorded this privilege with the educated "elite" even in their own constituency. At workplace today try comparing familiarity between Carla Bruni and Devi Singh Shekhawat and you'll get what I mean (unless you are wondering who the latter is yourself!) .

Some thoughts that in my opinion will help us retain sanity in the current Obamania are:


- Election promises are made either targeting a particular socio-economic or ethnic group or in response to one's opponent's position on an important subject. The complexity of fulfiling the promise sinks in when one occupies the seat of power. So it is rather naive to make predictions on what a future government means for anyone basis mere public speeches and electoral commitments.

- The American Presidency, like any other democratic insitution, has historically been managed with primary focus on what will ensure a comeback 4 years hence as opposed to stated position in preceding campaign. Obama will be no different as he is an elected representative after all.

- The media does little research before it writes. Hence, an Indian nominated to the advisory committee of the transition team is supposed to have enough influence to grant Narendrabhai Modi his visa!

In short- lets not get too carried away by media coverage about a charismatic President-elect and try to foretell what the actual Presidency will be like.

Much as I am tempted to pass these off as my original views, they are the result of my eavesdropping during the afternoon beer. The neighbouring table was occupied by one of the top-most mandarins of the Vajpayee government . A man who had dealt with Democrats and Republicans alike and knew exactly what not to expect. I could not help agreeing with him completely.

Given the unprecedented media coverage of the American presidential polls in India, what we should indeed sit up and notice is the extent of the American middle-class' involvement in their country's political system. We on the other hand find it fashionable to have opinionated discussions around the American Presidency but Indian politics is treated as the preserve of the lower middle-class. Compare the calibre and backgrounds of people queing up to be part of the administration there with the line-up that we have.

We are certainly permitted counter arguments around America being the world's most important nation, Devi Shekhawat lacking Carla Bruni's charisma or worst of all blame the Indian political system for churning out what it does and the resultant disinterest. In my view though, our obssessive focus with the U.S. Presidency boils down to our age-old fetish for all things "phoren".

It is time we took similar interest in our own administration and drove majority opinion around creating a system that allows capable professionals adequate governance opportunities with the same fervour that we debate Obama's possible role in enhancing India's nuclear power generation capability . In the last Lok Sabha elections, it was a cocktail circuit fashion-statement to merely have voted. I sincerely hope the next one sees at least as much middle-class interest as the U.S. presidential elections did!