Another day in America

Before we all get too excited, the Obama victory today is not going to change the world configuration. Of course, it will be time for celebration for all centre/centre-left types around the world, just as whenever 'one-of-us' is elected anywhere on the planet we must raise a glass.

However, what will really change?

America's key foreign policy positions, on Israel, the Middle East etc. will not change any time soon. The US will still dash Israel billions of dollars for military hardware each year to maintain the uneasy status quo - and not question its nuclear stockpile. Obama has shown no particular enthusiasm for Africa or African trade - I doubt if the US government will now pause to question the massive agricultural subsidy to American farmers which would give the continent a much-needed boost. America's desperate economic situation will not be remedied. Small town America is dying fast, with no jobs, no credit, no hope and now, no Starbucks. What can anyone do about this? Neither candidate has said anything particularly meaningful about how to create American jobs, beyond vague blocking gestures against outsourcing.

A more open, dialogic approach to international relations will certainly win back some favour for America, whose standing in the world could not be lower right now. Certainly, it should spell positive news for the UK and enable a more engaging relationship with Europe. Gordon Brown (and his successor) would face less of a choice between 'either Europe or America'.

A more intelligent form of politics will be welcome: instead of the oppositional platitudes of the 'war on terror' and the 'axis of evil' the numbskull Dubya bleated about endlessly. Lord knows that a Bobby Kennedy style of articulate debate is needed in dumbsville US politics and even dumberville American media (with its too-few notable exceptions).

A black man as President of the US is the most significant aspect beyond American shores, symbolically disrupting the idea of a global racial ceiling, just as Lewis Hamilton's win has disrupted the white world of Formula 1. At last, Fela's dream of a 'Black President' has been achieved. However, even in this case, the symbolic ripple-effect might be overstated - did feminist critique of patriarchy receive a boost when Thatcher was elected Prime Minister all those years ago? Its absurd to talk of Obama ushering in a post-racial future for America, when the US is utterly beset by the racial divide from top to bottom. Or, is the reality depicted in The Wire an illusion?

Obama's victory over the clueless and outmoded Republicans will be sweet. But lets not get ahead of ourselves and think that a new world begins from tomorrow..