The Devil Departs

George Bush was good for India. But look at what he did to the world!

"Who is better for India?" was the persistent query the Indian media posed as it forensically examined stray remarks the two contenders made on our sainted subcontinent. It was a legitimate, if slightly self-centred, inquiry. Alas, the investigation and analysis yielded little by way of evidence. Obama and McCain are passionately pro-India; as far as we are concerned, both were perfectly acceptable. This emerging superpower is too big, too affluent, too seductive a market for the United States to ignore—even if you forget the counter-to-China argument.

However, here is a necessary caveat. Should we view this "historic" election only through the prism of India? I believe a more useful and urgent question would be: "Who is better for our battered planet?" The bungling moron, who leaves the White House with the lowest approval rating in American history, has not just screwed up his country, he has screwed up the world. For a US president to have wrecked at once global finance and global democracy is a unique achievement. As an American writer has noted, George W. Bush gave the world Iraq, Afghanisatan, a non-existing energy policy, Enron, an aversion to climate issues, and finally engineered the collapse of free markets. For his extraordinary destructive powers, Mr Bush deserves the Nobel prize.

Even though I was rooting for Obama, even John McCain (whose 2000 presidential bid was brought down by Bush with a smear campaign alleging he had fathered an illegitimate child) would have made a welcome change. Happily, we have the best of results. Obama is good for India, good for the international community, good for America, good for democracy. I do not wish to demonise Bush, but the sort of damage he has inflicted on his country and its cherished values is incalculable. To describe him as a "bungling moron" is far too charitable. It is necessary, therefore, to stop harping on the who-is-good-for-India theme. After all, George Bush was good for India. But look at what he did to the world!

Watching the election results come in on Wednesday morning was a surreal experience. Could a black man, who 40 years ago was struggling to sit next to a white man on a bus, sit in the hallowed Oval Office? Were we seeing the fabled American Dream play out on our TV screens? If six months ago someone had told me that an African American, who is half-Muslim, whose middle name is Hussein, whose surname could be mischievously turned into Osama by altering a single consonant, would win the 2008 presidential race by a landslide, I would have considered that individual to be certifiable.

In the past eight Bush years, America has become probably the most hated nation in the world. This incredible victory holds the promise of restoring the moral authority of American democracy and leadership. Could the "miracle" only happen in America? Perhaps, this is the apt time to ask: "When will India get a Muslim prime minister?"

By: By: VINOD MEHTA
Source: Outlook India