Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Barack Obama and India

The call for votes has got shriller on Indian soil. No these are not for the votes in Bihar elections rather the calls are made for American votes from India. Strange? Not really. After the recent drubbings Obama has been kind of desperate and hence his successful Indian visit is measured by the number of jobs that will be created in US. It seems the American Population is tired of the “Change Agent ” and hence they are seeking change at the presidency level and “Yes They Can”.
As a kid, I use to see “tight rope walking” act performed by street side artist whereby a kid would walk a rope tied to two posts and balance a pot on his head. He would also use a stick to balance himself.
Obama’s situation looks eerily similar to that kid only he is well dressed and better fed. As he walks the tight rope he has to appease India (begging India to open up and sounding anti protectionist) on the one hand and woo American voters (creating jobs and shouting anti outsourcing rhetoric) on the other. The pot balanced on his head is his presidency and the stick used to balance himself is Afghanistan which can easily led to his downfall.
The desperate situation of Obama can be gauged by the fact that his advisors had almost converted every deal he signs in terms of the jobs that will be created back home.
I cannot blame Mr Obama for asking for votes from Indian soil for we have been doing this our entire life (post freedom). Garnering votes by whatever means whether it be promising bikes to school children or bribing the constituency has been our specialty and it seems Obama has figured out what we do best.
All I can say is congrats Mr Obama for taking back 54000 jobs back with himself.

4 comments:

  1. He is one of the greatest leaders America has had. When he took over, the economy was in shambles. People expected him to wave a magic wand; the expectations were too high!

    He needs India and we need him! I think the arrangement should work both ways.

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  2. @Purba- Very true. Without him the economy may have plunged further. He truly is good though i think the Nobel Prize was awarded way too soon.

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  3. And when he came into power, america starts witnessing his downfall... Now eye is on India & China, the globalization has taken a new turn... it's the softwares & IT applications that will become asset. Thankfully India knows very well how to develop them effeciently & cheaply. America knows it very well & to remain a super power it can do anything and that's what america is doing... help India at par with China & on the other side help pakistan with arms to counter India's rise

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  4. @Anonymous- Very true, he came to India like a salesman and got himself couple of deals. He will now finance Pakistan's armament by money earned from India...

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