I Support Barrack Obama - But Alas ! My Vote Won't Count

Caucuses and Primaries at Iowa and New Hampshire are over and we have some more of them at places like South Carolina, Florida, Maine and at some other places. Even after spending some time to understand the intricacies of caucuses and primaries, I must confess that I am still all at sea about knowing the facts about them. Again that is none of my business, but what certainly my business is and should be the business of a lot of people around the world is to closely watch and follow the candidates for the American Presidential election as it holds a lot of ramifications for the world that we are living in. There is a common perception around the world that there is going to be change in the US government with the incumbent Republican party being replaced by a Democratic government and therefore it is very important for us to know who the democratic candidate is going to be for the Presidential election to be held on 4 November 2008. For me, the ideal candidate would be the Illinois senator,Barrack Obama and not the 'Comeback Kid II', Hillary Rodham Clinton, the New York Senator.

Mr.Obama, if elected, would become the nation's first African-American President. The 46 year old civil rights lawyer is perhaps the most unassuming US Presidential candidate that I have ever seen and he hardly looks in the mould that we Asian would imagine an American President to be. The tall Democrat, with less aesthetic grandeur but great vocal magnificence, appears to be a man of integrity and the policies that he claims he'll pursue, if selected the most powerful man on earth, are certainly quite impressive. Obama's election slogan is "Change, we can believe in" and that is what we all want and hope, a change from the long treaded path of the American Government - of imperialism, world policing and international hegemony. But as John Kerry had said on Thursday, it is sometimes the hardest thing to make a clean break with the past, to readily embrace new thinking and new beginning and therefore it is going to be a real challenge for Mr.Obama to break the status quo and stride to a new path which would restore America's lost credibility and moral authority. A close perusal of his policy plans bring out a real paradigm shift that he intends to bring from the way American decision makers are behaving and governing in the present day under the Presidency of the Republican George Bush.

Foreign Policy
His major foreign policy decisions would be to bring back the US troops from Iraq as soon as possible, press Iraq's leaders to reconcile, aggressive diplomacy to bring back normalcy in Iraq and the Middle East, direct Presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions and the humanitarian initiative to confront the grave humanitarian crisis in Iraq, as he believes that America has the moral and security responsibility to do so. Mr.Obama has always been a strong believer that the US troops are fighting a lost battle at Iraq and hence he always wanted to bring back the troops without any more casualties. His plan to have a diplomatic effort towards defusing tensions with Iran, without any preconditions is a real gutsy decision and have to be appreciated and this certainly shows how young minds, which Mr.Obama truly represent, can overcome absurd and preposterous decisions taken by the experienced lot at times.

Civil Rights
Mr.Obama, a civil rights lawyers himself, has been at the forefront in his country's pursuance of promoting civil rights and criminal justice system. He plans to make laws to bring a condition where women will get equal pay for equal work and will also work to overturn Supreme Court's ruling that curtails racial minorities' and women's ability to challenge pay discrimination .

Economy
One of the most serious issues of present day America is the wrong economic position that they are finding themselves in. There are a lot of disparities in the tax regime and Mr.Obama plans to provide tax relief to middle class Americans. He will also try to strengthen the trade position with other countries and will try to create more jobs for the Americans. He will also increase minimum wages and will index it to inflation to ensure it rises every year.

Energy and Environment
Obama supports implementation of market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce the carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary. he will invest in clean energy future, support next generation biofuels, will set America to path of oil independence and will restore US leadership on climate change.

Health care
Health care issues and the opposition against incompetent health insurance system in America are quite vociferous this time around as well. Mr.Obama is having a comprehensive plan for the bringing the health care sector back on track. Obama will bring new national health insurance plan to all Americans, including self employed and small businesses, help individuals to purchase private insurance plan, provide mandatory coverage for children, lower cost by modernising the US health care system, bring in new initiatives and will fight AIDS world wide.

When the lanky Illinois Senator stands for the election, with unique vision, uncompromised ethics and unchallenged integrity, for becoming the first African-American President of the United States, I support him unconditionally and with much hope that he would bring a sea change in the way in which the Americans would look upon the rest of the world and vice versa. But obviously, my support and vote for Mr.Obama won't get counted, sadly.

(With inputs from Barrack Obama's official website for 2008 Presidential Campaign)