It is common knowledge now that history was made on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, when an Afro-American, Barack Obama, became president of the most powerful country in the world, the United States of America. As the first person of a racial background other than full Caucasian, he broke the mould of 43 previous white presidents of that country. This is stupendous enough as an unprecedented achievement to be a historic citation. But the significance is larger than this.

Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1991 marking the end of the Soviet Union as a world power, the United States has been the sole super-power. This awesome responsibility has been recklessly administered by the Bush administration in an authoritarian manner without regard for the multi-lateral decision-making processes of the United Nations. Iraq was invaded by a Bush-led military deployment involving allied countries shamefully participating in a devious design.

a burden

The outcome of this invasion has not justified any American claim of political correctness or planned Iraqi terrorism. It has wasted millions of lives and billions of dollars on all sides. America's shame will be a burden for the new president to bear. He can with the greater trust of global interests, which he now has, knowing that he will not succumb to the greed of big oil companies to dominate world supply, or the almighty power of fundamentalist religions to dominate world religion. He can succeed where others failed because he is not suspect of the immoral motives of his predecessors. The American people acted wisely in selecting a president who is not beholden to the grasping fanaticism of powerful interests.

The new president also must shoulder the dynamics of a new wave of social change in race relations, as young people lead the thrust of changing America's vision of society from one to many colours. A multi-national country like the United States should long ago have openly grasped the need to enrich its people with a mixed ethnic background of vibrant racial strains.

foundations

What more could black people have done to herald their own claim as an exceptional people than the feats of illustrious pioneers: Jesse Owens, Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson, and hosts after them in demolishing social barriers and rising to the supreme heights of world acclaim as super-athletes? What else was needed than the foundations set by black musicians to erase cultural barriers of skin colour to give the world a precious musical legacy of true global greatness?

These broken barriers will now be seen in the framework of a boy born of the exotic mix of a black Kenyan father from a poor African village and a white American mother from a Polynesian country, Hawaii, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. From this kaleidoscope came not a mixed-up boy, but a decisive, articulate, multicultural man with the credentials to handle multi-cultural affairs. A good part of the globe will rest more assured that his dreams will be closer to their dreams than ever before. Americans must take great pride in the mix of such an ethnic product.

Yet, there will be a gap because his country has not been completely cleansed of the socially wasteful poison of racial discrimination. Only another great step has been taken. Still, others will be needed to push racialism into the deep recesses of a forgotten background if the America he leads is to become a true world leader with pride of place around the table of societies of right-thinking people. What a massive change that would be! That re-positioning would be enough to classify him with Garvey, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela. None of these architects of social change fully succeeded. Each took a giant step to greater racial and ethnic stability. So can Obama.

This is the deepest and most formidable challenge he will face because of the lack of public confidence in the ability to refloat the sinking ship. This is not an easy job because the ship was unhinged from its financial moorings. It will depend on finding the right levers to pull, a task made more complex by the extent that the financial system is globalised, smoothing the path for both success and failure. The globalised system of finance will have to be reviewed to determine what checkpoints should be put in place to ensure that a financial virus in one part does not overpower the whole.

Indeed, the new president will have to grapple early with the prevailing philosophies of how financial systems work. Do they work best when left alone to market forces guided by the proverbial "hidden hand", as Adam Smith believed?

incredible fall-out

In the current sub-prime mortgage crisis, the two giant housing finance institutions, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, led the way in opening the door for lending to uncreditworthy borrowers with little or no collateral. As soon as the external shock of increased oil prices and the internal stress of higher food prices hit the system, some payments in the household budget had to give way to accommodate extra costs. Mortgage payments were the logical choice since they were minimally secured, if at all. The fall-out was incredible because the costs were horrendous.

This is an uphill battle of immense proportions, sufficient to destroy all the goodwill with which Obama will assume his awesome role. In every struggle, inevitably one side gets the better position on the battlefield. It was not given to Obama to make that choice. It was his legacy to inherit the distorted thinking of his predecessors that the inanimate forces of a market can make better choices with the guidance of Adam Smith's "hidden hand", than the deliberate decisions of thinking men. But the fear is genuine that the unworthy distortions of men who position themselves in the inner workings will create self-serving benefits when there is no guidance.

The reliance on market forces was never intended to replace all the good regulations a wise government of men can consider and apply. After the scheme of effective regulations is designed and applied, then the market can decide the rest. Opening the system without regulatory checks and balances, exposes it to the dominant motivation of even more powerful forces; the "greed" of capitalism and the "envy" of socialism.

different road

There is a different road which some have already discovered, but which needs to be studied as part of a new order, a system regulated to provide checks and balances for core decisions, leaving the rest of the framework for the market to decide. Obama's role, for which he appears to be highly suited, is to sell this middle ground to those who cling to the excesses of capitalist doctrine, the extremes of socialist dogma, or other expressions of fanaticism. They will all have to abandon extremes and move toward an accommodating centre.

Greater importance rests on finding a new world direction since globalisation has knitted multiple economies into one web, with any part not only strengthening, but weakening, every part.

If Obama fails he will create a vacuum of forlorn hopes as others before him have done.

This can be a definitive period of transformational reforms and no one is better suited to propel this mission than President-elect Barack Obama who is already positioned because, with apology to Julius Caesar, he came, he saw, he conquered.

Edward Seaga is a former prime minister. He is now a Distinguished Fellow at the UWI. Emails may be sent to odf@uwimona.edu.jm. Feedback may also be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com