Young Barack the Second was 25 years old when his mother traveled to Pakistan for her Ph.D. fieldwork. She was a unique woman, an American who married two Muslims from very different backgrounds, and learned languages most Americans have never heard of, including Urdu, one of the main languages of Pakistan. Stanley Ann Dunham was a woman with compassion for the Pakistani people, she had seen their troubles with her own eyes, and studied ways that they could be helped.
She could never have imagined that her own son would one day be directly responsible for hurting the people she had worked so hard to help.
On May 1st, as President Obama looked into the eyes of Americans and the world to announce the bizarre end to an even stranger manhunt, we looked back into his eyes and for the first time ever, there was no trace of Stanley Ann.
His gaze, glazed and haunting as it complemented the equally opaque proclamation of the assassination of a defunct enemy, sent shivers down our spines. It looked like Barack. It sounded like Barack. But it was of an ilk many Americans had thought they'd voted out of office in 2008.
Yes, his predecessor started the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Yes, his predecessor handed over billions of dollars in aid that go almost entirely into the hands of corrupt politicians and military officials in Pakistan, instead of the people who need it. And yes, his predecessor explained these wars as a hunt for Osama bin Laden.
But Barack Obama upped the ante on every one of those fronts. He didn't help Pakistan -- he made it worse. And while it is not exactly the job of the American President to help other countries -- even if being the world's only superpower would suggest some responsibility on moral fronts -- it is at least the job of the American President not to put his public in danger, the kind of danger that arises out of perpetuating wars and half-truths, and further agitating religious extremists.
True, Obama hasn't been all wrong on foreign policy. To his credit, he has so far avoided bomb-bomb-bombing Iran as McCain surely would have tried and the previous administration would have done if it hadn't been bogged in the quagmire of myriad other disasters. He is making his way out of the Iraq war he once opposed. His administration has also been highly supportive of the Arab revolutions as a new method of transferring power in the region. And no one is surprised by his strategy in Afghanistan -- that Bush war was extended under Obama as per his campaign promise.
But every war he has avoided has been replaced with another conflict, and his administration has even somehow managed to avoid calling them wars. He is now fighting a full-out war in Libya and what were once remote-controlled drone attacks in Pakistan have become ground operations by U.S. troops on Pakistani soil. The military operations taking place in Yemen and Bahrain, and elsewhere among the Middle East uprisings have tacit U.S. approval, or in the case of the recent attempted assassination of U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, direct U.S. military involvement.
Most people understand that the pressures of the top job and a need for re-election can be overwhelming. But very few of us expected that the shady areas of political morality would be anything more than a sanctuary for the son of Stanley Ann.
She didn't raise him in highfalutin Connecticut or on a sprawling family estate in Texas, after all. He was a little biracial boy whose mother was extraordinarily fascinated with the world beyond her borders and carried him along her journey to appreciate that world.
Her life was spent on fomenting understanding between cultures and peoples, on learning and educating others about how civilians in all societies can help each other overcome the failures of their governments to take care of them. She was the primary influence on the mind and manner of a young boy whose father was not in the picture and whose grandparents were far away for many years.
Barack Obama is the first President of the United States who knows from experience what life is like in other countries and what life in the United States is like not only for a racial minority but for an immigrant.
In the days since the Bin Laden announcement, as the official story has undergone several manifestations, more civilians have been killed in Pakistan following a U.S. drone attack, the war in Libya has continued to escalate under America's watch, and U.S. government officials have instigated plans for heightened security protocols that infringe on the free movement of Americans in their own country.
It seems clearer than ever that Barack Obama has either forgotten his own journey or decided to discard it for the sake of power.
Perhaps it is better, then, that Stanley Ann isn't here to see.
Follow Shirin Sadeghi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ShirinSadeghi
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but hey! its only pakistani children dead!
Is she disappointed that Obama isnt the super-liberal dove that she imagined him to be? Because that's not what he campaigned as- and that's not who I supported. He was always a hawk-centrist (he even spoke of sending troops into Pakistan against their wishes if it came down to it, for goodness' sake). So why is she sad now? Did she get dazzled by his Nobel Prize?
Shaking up the military establishment in Pakistan is the best possible thing he could have done for the Pakistani people. Shirin, if you weren't naive (or at least weren't pretending to be, in order to score cheap points like in this article), you would know that.
You dont know his mother or his relationship with her. This is emotional blackmail of the worst sort.
The talk of global policing has always been an issue, if we seclude ourselves and pretend nothing is happening we’ll have the same re-awakening we had on Dec. 7, 1941. Whatever we do, you realize we are screwed, we leave the countries that our former President decided to invade, and we leave them a shattered country and what remains of our tattered image. The rest of the world will speak of how we are a society of destroyers; if we don’t leave we have people talking about the “wasted” American lives. It’s a no win situation, but I think the President is doing the best he can under these circumstances.
I'm disallusioned with President Obama. I voted for him, but he has turned out to be a "business as usual" leader. I was drawn to his "vision" by empty words.
I look forward to the day when the USA will properly take care of our own people, which is sorely needed now, and give up its role as international policeman.
Yes, we certainly could learn a few things from our good neighbor Canada...
I am a Medically Separated Veteran who was pushed through the system by the military and thank god my heath is good. If Americans can't get completely on board with Helping Veterans. HOW can we help a larger portion of our society who work 50 hours a wk for $30,000 and are expected to raise a healthy, productive family to grown into productive members of society = Civil Service Employees do this.
But the GOP doesn't care, they want to cut, cut, cut. they should have cut and run while GWB was spending billions for HIS war, where we didn't get ANY OIL? what kind of Oil man is he?
Canada Eh, maybe, don't know enough about our northern neighbor.
It wasn't an easy article but I would make couple of observations. I agree that the billions of US aid to overseas allies end up in the pockets of corrupt politicians in Asia and Africa.
Following the success in tracking down Bin Laden and exterminating him in Abbotabad Pakistan, I would like to see a swift US military intervention in Libya to topple the Gaddafi's odious regime. I would also urge the US Administration to take a tough stance against Damascus, to declare the Bashar regime as illegitimate and to help the opposition to dislodge the Syrian dictatorship. So far Barak Obama has been less than assertive about Syria. This must change and soon.
I mean, were any of you guys paying attention? I mean, I was, and I voted for him, because I agree.
That you are so outraged over it, and are acting like this is some shocker.....well, what can I say, you're willfully ignorant (about many things, as is obvious from this article)
and when he extends tax breaks to the rich (of which he is now one) after saying he would not /
we should ignore his hypocrisy?
Right on target!!
You are very succinct in your comments.
Thank you for an amazing post. I'm sending this to my mom. She'll be very impressed.