Obama must treat the world with respect

A historic moment was marked on Tuesday when Barack H. Obama formally took office as the 44th president of the United States.

For Americans, it was a particularly joyful and emotive occasion, just as it undoubtedly was for the people of Kenya, birthplace and home of the new presidents’ late father, and for the people of Africa as a whole.

This epochal event has rightfully earned its place as no other American presidential inauguration on record.

The new president assumes office with the lenses of the world focused on him, and the weight of great expectation on his shoulders.

So once the euphoria has worn-off, it will be straight on to some very difficult work, as he acknowledged in his inaugural speech.

Plenty has already been written about the multiple problems the first black resident of the White House must contend with, ranging from the global economic crisis, to the Iraq war, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and terrorism, to name but a few.

Those are issues that will takes President Obama’s full-time attention. But here we wish to isolate one far simpler issue which, by itself, can be the key to resolving many of the problems the US faces abroad.

It was one President Obama’s predecessor of yore, Theodore Roosevelt, popularised using the African proverb, “Speak softly and carry a big stick”.

It is unfortunate that many American leaders since have forgotten the simple dictum, preferring arrogance and bully-boy tactics in their relations with the rest of the world.

The upshot is that the respect the sole superpower used to command has been replaced by suspicion and loathing. President Obama must move decisively to restore faith, trust and respect as a cornerstone of US foreign policy.

If the US treats the rest of the world as friends and partners, it might find that the hate it attracts will dissipate, and so will some of the attitudes that make the country a prime target for international terrorism.