Obama: the view from Iraq

Greater Iraqi view

Obama's appointment bodes well with large sections of the Iraqi population who favour a quick departure of American forces, and who remain unmoved from their perceptions of Bush as a Western tyrant. Obama's skin-colour and his exotic origins are significant for most Iraqis (and the great Middle Eastern landscape for that matter). However, most Arab sceptics generally believe that the choice of president will change little when it comes to US policies in the Middle East.

This view may hold some weight: after all, the new US president will still be constricted to some extent by the Bush legacy. No US president, however gallant, can escape from this fact.

Furthermore, US foreign policy has always been long term. Decades of foreign ideals and strategic manoeuvring for a world order in line with the vision of the US, cannot be altered greatly or at the pace many demand. Even the effervescent and bold Obama may struggle to make wholesale changes. It will take time. So in reality, Obama can ill-afford to change radically Bush's policy in Iraq. If he does and the Iraqi project derails, the nails in his presidential coffin may have been hammered home before his term even begins. The security pact, even if modified further, will clearly see US presence in Iraq for at least four year.

Regardless of the differing camps’ view on Bush's eight-year tenure at the helm and the capacity of Obama to enact real change, there is a broad and energised consensus in the US and on the international stage, that a fresh outlook was required and a new page can now be turned. A jubilant Obama hopes to provide just that.