While the British media speculated what president Obama may speak about in his speech to British parliamentarians during his most eagerly awaited visit to the UK, my friend and I wrote a list of what we thought they may be. Special relationship with Britain, peace, democracy, Arab awakening, leading the world into a better future, winning back the trust of the world etc and who could have predicted it, we were right. The speech was delivered so beautifully, with an ounce of theatrical near tears that most around the world would easily have been moved. How very touching it would have been had we not have heard this before from every other American president. President Obama who recently produced his own birth certificate to prove to a suspicious American public that he is indeed an American born citizen, must have had a distinction in his legal advocacy exams because he is able to deliver the rhetoric like no other. He is by far one of the most persuasive speech makers in the world and he, unlike many of his predecessors, is generally willing to accept some blame on behalf of his nation for their mistakes but despite all this, most remain unconvinced by him. His tired; repetitive, desperate speech last weeks is a sign of rapidly disappearing global American influence.

From strengthening the alliance with the UK, leading the global economy to offering what seemed like an amnesty to Taliban fighters that drop their weapons and embrace democracy and the Afghani constitution, Mr. Obama said it all uninterrupted and encouraged by a very a star struck chamber of British Parliamentarians. Clearly, President Obama was very optimistic about the future of the developed world as he argued that through education and innovation in the key fields of science and technology, the western world can still lead the world like before. However, does the President think that the rest of the world is sleeping and unaware of the fact that innovation is crucial to their growth?

Does he think America and its western allies have a monopoly on innovation? The simple answer to this is no as education alone will not make the western nations more competitive than their rivals in the East as China, South Korea and Japan invest heavily in education too and in many ways either are catching up technologically, are at a similar point and in the case of Japan, even ahead.

What was very clear is that Obama, sorry, President Obama (now that he has produced his birth certificate) was on the campaign trail hoping to project from London to the electorate back home that he was still popular and respected abroad even though this might not be the case at home. He wanted to do as he usually does, impress the world with his words and then disappear and not deliver on them. The president was right to focus on the issue of trust of Western powers among most nations especially in the developing world, as the reality is that there is little of this if any at all. But why the acknowledgement now and not all those years before?

Of course, it can only be that now America and its Western allies are in direct competition for influence in the developing world as is evidenced by the US embassy cables leaked by Wikileaks that showed African governments liked dealing with China. On the trade front, the new BRIC countries have formed a formidable trade partnership that for the likes of Brazil, have freed it from the crippling American Neo-Liberal structural adjustment programmes that used to accompany the loans from the IMF and the World Bank. This new trade partnership has also made Brazil a donor nation and not a recipient one today. To add insult to injury and to nail the coffin of President Obama’s perceived western world leadership shut, ally nations such as Pakistan are asking the American’s to remove their army from their nation whilst welcoming the Chinese to establish a naval base there as a result of mistrust over Afghanistan.

A major fault with President Obama’s speech was that it treated those it addressed as though they were ignorant of their own history. President Obama argued that the protestors in the Arab world must win their own freedom without mentioning that most of the deposed dictators and those currently threatened with upheaval are mostly his former allies for whom Human Rights and Democracy did not apply so long as they served their purpose to his nation.

“On the issues of the Middle East no one takes him seriously now,” said a Libyan foreign student in London who did not want to be identified. “He gave a great speech in Cairo early in his career but no action followed.”

“Weak leadership is evident in his speeches before and after meeting AIPAC. What’s his position?” inquired another. This is hard to say but what is clear is that American influence is weakening rapidly globally. As the President speaks, most of the world no longer listens instead preferring to build partnerships with those nations that lessen the rhetoric and increase the deeds.

President Obama would be better off concentrating on convincing his electorate that he is their man in the next presidential elections and not rely solely on the believe that the Republicans do not have a strong enough candidate to beat him. Unemployment and consumer confidence are still a major worry in America and this can only continue to lead to a weakening dollar, a shrinking economy and more debt for the American government as it has to borrow more from lenders like China. The irony is that President Obama’s slight improvement in the rating polls are as a result of not improving economic circumstances but of the killing by American Special Forces of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. This illustrates the enormity of his policy failures.

President Obama needs to wake up to the new reality that his Western leadership is not desired by those who have fallen victim to it before having been seduced by great speeches like the ones he delivers regularly.  Most of it is meaningless as it is self assuring and as well as aimed at pleasing everybody at the same time. From the Arab awakening to African nations turning down IMF and World Bank loans to enter into trade agreements with China, the rest of the world has found the ambition and courage to no longer be fooled by American modelled dreams of prosperity that never come to fruition but instead make nations servants of other nations.

President Obama is clearly in campaign mood and it is unlikely that the Republicans will find a good enough candidate to beat him in the next general election. He may, as he appears to be offering, be able to lead the world as America is still a powerful nation and maintains its superpower status. He was at the time of his election victory over John McCain, with his message of Hope and change, the candidate America desperately needed to change its image. He was a new kind of candidate with fresh ideas. A man of the real people. He has to his credit, dared to dream at home of spreading equality in the form of the Healthcare Bill which was shot down by the Republicans but in the end he has been sucked in by Capitol Hill’s old politics.

If when he speaks many in the world refuse to listen he should not take it so personally as the issue is not only him and US foreign policy, but the fact that there is rapid process of change taking place in the global political economy which has empowered once aid dependent nations to the point where they are now able to compete and beat the likes of America economically. More dangerously for the established powers, these successes have won the likes of China and Brazil respect and admiration from other developing countries that now want to follow their models of development rather than those handed down by American leaning global financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF.

Liban Obsiye

Email: libanbakaa@hotmail.com