Desperate Obama adulation in India

YES, we can! India joined the now famous refrain when US voters rose in one voice as presidential candidate Barack Obama delivered his victory

Somewhere, though, there was a wistful tinge of, “Wish we had an Indian Obama!” And, even as the new US president gets set to take oath of office, Indians, fresh from 26/11, are still on the lookout for a leader who inspires.

India is crying out for a young, dynamic leader who stands by his words and people, someone who delivers.

Says Anu Aga, businessperson and listed amongst Forbes’ most powerful women, “It’s not impossible. Gandhi, the phenomenon, happened less than a century ago and is still part of living memory. Obama is a product of the times and has created hope and optimism all around. Now, we have to find our own Obama.” (via Desperately seeking… an Indian Obama!-Life-Sunday TOI-The Times of India).

What is it about Obama that inspires this lady?

Is it that after 250 years, a Black person has become a President of the USA - amidst growing fears that he will be assassinated? Is she fogretting how in "the spring of 1968 ... Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated in a span of two months."

That this may be a token much like Kennedy, - the first and the last Catholic President in the USA? Is it inspiring, that after 200 years of being a republic, the US still has not elected a woman as a President?

Coming to Obama, according to this writer, is someone who is "young, dynamic leader (and) stands by his words and people, someone who delivers" ... On what basis is this statement made - because, Obama has furiously started back pedalling on his campaign promises, even before being sworn in. Pretty standard for the course, for politicians across the world.

Of course, the cynicism towards politicians amidst the Westernized Indian elite in India is not new or strange.

Why am I not surprised by this adulation of the West - from India's oldest English newspaper!