A leader before his time.

Byline: Nadeem G. Maasry

Summary: No sooner than 12 months have passed, calculated from the very day President barack Obama was elected in November of last year, that commentators began to assess his "successes and failures." It did not matter that the new administration which had inherited gigantic political and economic problems, both at home and abroad, had not been installed in Washington.

First person by Nadeem G. Maasry

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No sooner than 12 months have passed, calculated from the very day President barack Obama was elected in November of last year, that commentators began to assess his "successes and failures." It did not matter that the new administration which had inherited gigantic political and economic problems, both at home and abroad, had not been installed in Washington before the habitual three months period following the elections, many critics came down harshly on the president for not fulfilling his promises during his first year in office.Aa

This growing political debate which has already set in does not appear to reflect the seriousness of the excesses of the past: Wild euphoria after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet regime, seen by the neoconservatives then in power as "the end of history," a resulting insatiable financial appetite in markets without boundaries which put in question the health of the capitalist system, and military adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan that baffled the rest of the world and enfeebled the social fiber of the men in arms themselves.Aa

It is sad, as well, to observe that some Americans have not grasped how badly the image of their country had suffered in the world at large. It is also surprising to note that many others did not comprehend the relation between the unilateralist policies of the former Bush administration and the resulting lukewarm support afforded their country by allies in Europe and elsewhere in the world.Aa

Since the Founding Fathers had set their country on course, it took the United States a century and a half to elect a president from its catholic minority and two centuries to coalesce around a black leader. It would then be an unhappy circumstance for Americans today to consider abandoning the great message behind their choice of a man who rose from the underprivileged and who had been exposed in his youth to foreign cultures.Aa

Through this particular background and an upbringing uncommon for an American president, Obama understood that confrontation does not work with nations that had descended from a glorious past. It is rather the language of dialogue and conciliation that would be more effective with people who belong to their own proud histories.Aa

Notwithstanding the fact that candidate Obama during the presidential campaign had been drawn into the rationale of supporting the war in Afghanistan, "a country from which the US had been attacked on September 11, 2001," it is now time to leave behind political rhetoric while Obama's popularity is still notable worldwide.Aa

By distancing himself from the policies of his predecessor in the White House, Obama has gained momentum through a series of policy changes that would further international conventions and pursue diplomacy with adversaries as well as friends.Aa

In his speeches to the Europeans and the Russians, to the Chinese and other developing countries of Latin America, Asia and Africa, and in particular to the Islamic world, Obama came through as a humble man representing a potent nation.

A leader who does not mince his words, yet would not demonize Iran for its nuclear ambitions before expressing his personal wish for a world, including his own country, free from nuclear weapons. A president who would not castigate Russia's aggressive stance in East Europe before questioning the Bush Administration's pledge to plant America's own missiles in Poland.Aa

The Palestinian issue which was addressed by Obama soon after taking office, will remain, unfortunately, the albatross that every US president has had to carry around his neck, until a solution can be found to the problem of separating day-to-day politicking in Washington from the dictates of America's world-wide interests.Aa

If the announced winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 was a surprise to many observers, it is because they have not appreciated the fact that the election of a Barack Obama as president of the United States and thereby head of the most powerful military establishment on earth is in itself the message: Obama who had joined the 21st century ahead of his peers, a leader before his time, has realized that America's strength in the world of the future should not be a mere function of its military arsenal.Aa

As such, one can assume that the enemies of the United States today would rejoice to see the Obama message fail, a message which is capable of bringing back what America had meant to multitudes of peace loving people throughout the world.Aa

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Nadeem G. Maasry is an investment banker who served on the Brookings Institution's Business Advisory Council, the Center of Strategic and International Studies' Quadrangular Forum and the Washington Quarterly Economic Roundtable .

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