Columnist Jamala Rogers
George W. Bush’s 30 percent approval rating is the lowest of any president in the history of presidents and polls. Unfortunately, he’s still the president until January 20, 2009. Obama-votin’ citizens are past ready to kick Bush out of the Oval Office. The expectations of President-elect Barack Obama are high and pressing. It is a challenging reconciliation for the next few weeks.
Citizens of the world are also anxious and are already making known their wish list for the incoming president. I heard one caller from Sierra Leona on National Public Radio asking how a President Obama will make African heads of state more accountable to their people. Whoa n he’s a politician, not a magician!
There’s millions of us here at home that will be doing all we can to make Obama accountable to the American people. The tug of war has already begun between the progressive social movements and the Wall Street crowd. Both can claim they were responsible for the Obama victory, but whether both can have the new administration address their interests remains to be seen.
If we want Obama to be a president with a positive human rights legacy in his own country, the social movements (environmental, health care, labor, peace, education, housing, prison activists) must continue their organizing efforts to make sure those issues are not crowded out by the corporate lobby bullies. Most of these issues were imbedded in the Obama-Biden platform. If you check out their website, you will see everything from eliminating disparities in crack and cocaine sentencing to affordable health care.
In Missouri, Jay Nixon (former attorney general, now governor-elect) and Chris Koster (former Republican state senator, now Democratic attorney general-elect) also won. We got stuff for them to do as well. There’s a need for accountability all around. If we learned anything these past eight years on a federal and state level, it’s that the people can’t leave these elected officials to their own devices. It’s been disastrous.
Since all politics is local, all the good vibes and energies from the Nov, 4 election must be marshaled for the mayoral primary in March 2009. The Black and Green Forum wasted no time in starting the discussion the day after the colossal Obama victory. Two candidates for mayor spoke to the need to clean house at City Hall. Irene J. Smith is a Democratic candidate and Elston McGowan is a Green Party candidate. Both believe they can do a better job than Francis G. Slay.
There is still time to revel in our victories, but not for long. We can’t get sidetracked or rest on our laurels. There are a few us of who may be lucky to experience the historic inauguration, but the majority of us must get busy to make sure that St. Louisans have homes, jobs, health care, schools n and new leadership in Room 200.