"Yes, I was earnestly hoping and praying to be proven wrong; that I had somehow been so prejudiced that I didn’t see the light in the horizon; that blinded by what one of my beloved sisters in church, as recently as last Thursday evening, called my right-wing extremism that I had misread and misjudged Obama..."Shortly after Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, I did a piece titled, “Now, the Obama Era” (January 25, 2009). It was a glowing tribute to the fighting spirit of the man, an acknowledgement of the historicity of his election, but an expression of cautious hope about the possibilities of an Obama presidency.
Today, with another election a few weeks away
and his reelection a strong possibility, I just thought to revisit what I
considered the one issue critical for the future of the United States and,
indeed, all nations of the world. That issue is the place of God in the running
of the affairs of state.
But let’s begin this way. Yes, I did join in
the celebration, although I was one of the few, very few Nigerians and perhaps,
Africans, who were not excited about Obama’s candidacy. And I said so on this
page in several write-ups, to the chagrin and condemnation of many.
In joining in the celebration, however, I was
not simply joining the winning side. I was paying tribute to the fighting
spirit of the man and the historic nature of his victory and inauguration, as
the first three paragraphs of the article shows:
“It’s over – the long nights of dreaming,
that is. Now it’s time to live the dream, or more correctly, the reality. It
has been a long, tortuous march through long stretches of dangerous valleys and
daunting mountains; a long energy sapping swim through a vast shark-infested
ocean. Now, the young man who dreamt of studying law and did it; dreamt of
becoming a law professor and became it; dreamt of becoming a State senator and
became it; dreamt of going to Capitol Hill as a Federal Senator and made it;
who in his first term as a senator slugged it out with the best of them for his
party’s presidential ticket and won it; who dreamt of becoming President and
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America is
safely in the saddle at the White House of Pennsylvania Avenue! Dream
fulfilled!
“It was an electric moment. When Chief
Justice Warren spoke the last line of the presidential oath, it was a question:
“so help me God?” Barack Hussein Obama replied in the affirmative: “so help me
God.” And then, in the full view of millions of people across the globe, with
his hands outstretched to the man who until then had only been president-elect,
Warren
“And so, the skinny man with the strength of
a hulk, in Davidic version, became the 44th president of the world’s
most influential nation; the very first man of colour, to lead the white
dominated rainbow commonwealth that used to be known as God’s own country. Or
still is?”
That done, I went on to what I considered the
downside of things then, and which has not changed nearly four years down the
road. Please read on:
“Through all the revelry, through the
celebration of the historicity of the inauguration of the first black president
in Barack Obama, it is this poignant irony that continued to haunt me. “God”
was the last word this man had to mention before he became president of a
nation whose founding fathers had nicknamed God’s own country. But God had long since been relegated to the
background in this land of opportunities. He had been banned from the schools
and from public places. The nature and form and extent of His involvement in
the affairs of the State have to be negotiated among contenders who each claim
to represent Him. He has been democratized to the point of being
indistinguishable! And whatever changes this celebrated apostle of change, this
symbol of audacious hope, was promising held little hope that God and His
values were on the road to restoration. Or perhaps it did and I had missed it.”
Yes, I was earnestly hoping and praying to be
proven wrong; that I had somehow been so prejudiced that I didn’t see the light
in the horizon; that blinded by what one of my beloved sisters in church, as
recently as last Thursday evening, called my right-wing extremism that I had
misread and misjudged Obama. I therefore, as I reported then did the next best
thing:
“So, I listened to his inaugural address. It
was good. It was a beautiful piece of inspiring, rousing rhetoric. ‘Forty-four
Americans have now taken the presidential oath,’ he began. ‘The words have been
spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet,
every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At
these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision
of those in high office, but because ‘We the People’ have remained faithful
to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents (emphasis
inserted). So it has been. So it must be with
this generation of Americans.’”
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