Can Obama manage those expectations, and those forces of change?

Finally Barack Obama is president of the United States. A judging by the crowds that attended his inaugural, it seems at least some Americans think the new president has some sort of magic wand to pull the country out of the many problems it is mired in currently, and most of which are being blamed on George W Bush.
It evokes in me memories of the first time Manmohan Singh became India's Finance Minister. The Congress had promised to roll back prices in the run-up to those elections but once he took over Mr Singh famously said: "I do not have a magic wand (to roll back the prices!)".
Well, at least Mr Obama did not say he had a magic bullet for all of America's problems but a lot of Americans and people in other countries seem to think so. The biggest challenge for Obama would be managing those expectations.
And Obama could be classified as a success or failure depending purely on how he manages those expectations, not on how he really performs on the ground.
Will the world change with Obama? I doubt so. The changes we are undergoing right now are so momentous and old solutions simply cannot work. Indeed, we may not realize it but these changes are so sweeping, they are not amenable to any solutions. My feel is they will run their course and trample over any force that is trying to channelize them, till they change the world order and society in hitherto unseen ways.
Will Obama be a victim of those forces, or will he be able to keep his head up?

Left Is Right, And So Is BJP!

Is the Left's, and the BJP's, stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal good for the country? Well, it is too early to say. But going by past actions of the US, it is safe to be cautious and not to put too much hope on that deal.
We have seen on several occasions how the United States has left India hanging when it came to national security, while supporting Pakistan to the hilt. One could argue it is a whole new global strategic scenario now. However, that doesn't take away from the fact that the United States, and the West in general, will not repeat what they have done earlier with respect to India's legitimate security concerns.
The West now needs India's help to tame the monster of Islamic terrorism. And yes, it is also something in India's strategic interest. But what I hate about various Congress -led governments that have come to power in Delhi is that they try to see India's geo-political interests through the prism held out by the West. They have forgotten that the Indian have had strong relationships with various other nations and people, relationships spanning various planes. These governments have tried to follow a foreign policy that is largely a remnant of the Raj's policies.
The Vajpayee government, to its credit, made an attempt to go back to our roots and relationships by initiating the 'Look East' policy. But I think the Sahibs in the Congress have shelved that again.
We need to understand that our foreign and strategic interests are not exactly the same as those being preached to us by the West, mainly the United States and Britain. We have an existence of our own, something that predates the era of these two western powers. And our governments need to look at the various equations in that relationship before trying to lick the boots of the West.
In that respect - and not on the merits or demerits of the Indo-US nuclear deal - I would say the Left and the BJP are right. If they can force this government of western lackey Manmohan Sigh, driven by a westerner like Sonia Gandhi, to strike new paths in foreign policy then it is good for the long-term interests of this country.