THERE is no mistaking the general mood of satisfaction and hope in member states of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), including Jamaica, that Barack Obama has created history in winning the nomination of the Democratic Party to be its candidate for the coming November presidential election.

RICKEY SINGH

Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning was out front last Wednesday with his comment in the Trinidad Express that: "It is a most historic development which demonstrates how the United States is changing and has changed... His 'message of change' represents a breath of fresh air... We eagerly await the choice of the people of the United States."

While Manning may well have summarised the overwhelming mood among leaders of government and other sectors, in Jamaica, Dr Rupert Lewis, professor in the Department of Government at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies, was blending congratulation with caution to the Caribbean against high expectations of benefits should the senator from Illinois succeed in becoming the first African-American president in the White House.

A distinguished scholar, Lewis, author of Marcus Garvey: Anti-colonial Champion, explained to the Jamaica Observer (June 5 edition) why expectations about an Obama presidency should reflect political maturity.

"Obama," said Lewis - also author of Walter Rodney's Intellectual and Political Thought - "is not going to alter US foreign policy... He is not going to be playing any black role; he's going to be pursuing America's agenda, strengthened by black Americans, but I do not see an advantage for the Caribbean..."

Even some with dissenting views to Lewis' may be among those to recall how disappointment was to follow, in a few short years, the euphoria that had greeted the first African-American to serve as US secretary of state, Colin Powell, a scion of Jamaican ancestry.

Truth is, the Caribbean did not benefit much while Powell was Bush's secretary of state and long before the two had fallen out over the falsehood that led to the US war on Iraq.

Meetings in New York

Before Lewis' comments, the ailing retired legendary leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, had hailed Obama - even before he secured the historical nomination - as "the most advanced presidential candidate". But he also voiced his criticism, in an article he wrote for Granma, of Obama's failure to signal a break from traditional hostile US policies towards Cuba as exemplified by the punitive 46-year-old trade, economic and financial embargo.

Plans are under way for possible separate meetings with Senator Obama and the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, during the forthcoming second Conference on the Caribbean (this time in New York) scheduled for June 19-20. The first took place last year in Washington when Caricom leaders met with outgoing President George W Bush.

The intention is to have an exchange of views with the Caricom delegation of representatives of government, private sector and civil society seeking to ascertain how the Caribbean region features in the thinking and plans of Obama and McCain.

A key player for the proposed bilaterals with the Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls will be Congressman Charles Rangel (Democrat), who heads the important House Ways and Means Committee, and long viewed as "a friend of the Caribbean".

Whatever the outcome of the 2008 presidential contest, it is good to be able to celebrate with the enlightened American people this historic moment in their civilisation of Obama as the first African-American candidate of choice by either the Democratic or Republican party.

There is this feeling of a new generation of people engaged in a bold, imaginative process of freeing themselves from deep-rooted prejudices that have imprisoned them for far too long, a process that may hold lessons for other societies, including Africa, Asia and our Caribbean.

For we are about to witness the very real prospect of the 46-year-old son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother in charge at the White House after eight woeful years of the Republican presidency of George Walker Bush.

"Our moment"

In his victory speech last Tuesday night, Obama triumphantly declared to cheering thousands of supporters: "Tonight, I can stand before you and say, America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past..."

There are encouraging signals, at this stage, to believe that there will be a woman, a white American woman - Hillary Clinton - to help make this "our time" dream come true for more than black Americans whose right to vote became a legal reality just 42 years ago. Then, Obama would have been among the four-year-old kids too young to understand anything about the heroic struggles of the Civil Rights movement for the right to vote.

The possibility of now having a former first lady and current senator of New York as his vice president would certainly give even greater significance to the history of this year's presidential campaign.

For never before has any woman in American politics come so far, and with the highest tally of popular votes against a competitor - the real measuring rod for democracy - though she failed to secure the decisive delegate votes that went to Obama.

Hillary Clinton, whose tenacity during the intense and, at times, quite divisive campaign won her much admiration, was expected to make an official announcement this weekend on why and how she intends to support Obama's bid for the White House, even if not as his vice president running mate. Together, they may yet be the 'dream team' to defeat the Republican McCain.

Obama, gracious in victory, was in a mood to shower Clinton with praise, declaring that the 60-year-old New York senator "had made history herself. She is a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage and her commitment. Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honour to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton."

Well, more than reassuring words are needed to make the 'dream team' a reality. The BBC's Washington-based editor, Matt Frei, writing last week on the "mountain Obama now has to climb", having secured the nomination, offered this very telling observation:

"If America votes with its heart, it will elect Obama. If it votes with its gut, it will go for McCain. Who knows what organ will prevail in 2008..." For, as viewed by the BBC's man in Washington, "Mr Obama has effectively won the nomination on a losing streak.

"Mrs Clinton has lost on a winning streak..."

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