No they can't

November 13th 2008 – The 44th president of the United States of America will be Barack Hussein Obama, an African-American man who seemingly didn’t have a chance in hell in the beginning. 21 months later, not unlike an action movie hero, he has figuratively slain various opponents (John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, John McCain, the southern US...) to emerge triumphant of the electoral college. Although the world will praise the Americans for their tolerant foresight and indiscriminate voting, it must be said that President-elect Obama is not without merit. Rarely has a candidate been able to remain eloquent and graceful during an entire campaign without succumbing to negative campaigning, a history of drug use and/or random mistresses. That being said, what can other nations learn from this passionate American experience?

The BBC News Service boldly asks if France would be ready to elect a president of Algerian descent, if the United Kingdom is ready to elect a Prime Minister of Pakistani ancestry or if Germany would elect a Chancellor of Turkish origin. It is a valid question because these countries contain a similar history of colonisation, exploiting minorities and an eventual assimilation of them into their contemporary citizenry as the US has known. The reporter then contacted the foreign minister of France, Bernard Kouchner with this query, understandably expecting a vague answer deflecting the issue. A surprising “non” was thrown at the journalist. The French minister applauds the Americans but affirms that Old Europe, and particularly France, still has a very long road to cross before a non-white President is elected. He calls Obama’s victory inspiring for the French people yet there is too much racism and ethnic repression (privately and publicly) for any of the 3 million Senegalese and Algerian French citizens to accede to any level of government.

As further proof of European backwardness concerning ethnic diversity in their parliaments, the Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, congratulated Obama last week on his victory by adding: “he is young, fit and has a great suntan”. He subsequently accused world media of being imbeciles when they wouldn’t laugh along with him.

Projecting us into the annals of history, I could definitely mention President Alberto Fujimori who became President of Peru from 1990 to 2000, despite his Japanese ancestry. Unfortunately, it is a quite obscure example and furthermore, his presidency ended in corruption and disgrace so it does not serve my cause very well. No, we will focus on the ancient Roman Empire.

Emperor Trajan (53-117 AD) is recognised for many accomplishments, not the least of which was the maximum extent of the Roman Empire (from Britain to Africa, Portugal to the Middle East). In this universal reign, the Romans were no longer exclusively the denizens of Rome. Being over 7 centuries old, Rome was now its Empire and vice-versa. Peoples had been conquered, colonised or assimilated centuries before and the new generations were de facto, Romans themselves. This universal citizenry was not only wishful theory but an accepted fact. This is how Marcus Ulpius Trajan, born in the Roman province of Hispanica (Modern-day Eastern Spain) became the leader of millions, without ever setting foot in the capital until then.

I will always be the first to call the ancient Romans and Greeks “enlightened” but this gap in time and philosophy is ridiculous. The French foreign minister claims that there are still mentalities to change yet their predecessors had the right idea two millennia ago. Perhaps time is not what Europeans need. Perhaps they either need to stop fostering the racism (officially and by other means) or simply acknowledge it, elect far-right parties and close their borders to immigration.

You are out of time M. Kouchner. It is time for a choice.

Congratulations to America for making yours.

(Pictured: Trajan's column in Rome - President-elect Barack Obama)

End.