To many generations, Barack Obama is second to none

Dear President Obama,

As you read this (terribly presumptuous of me, I know!) you are probably preparing to speak to Kenyans at the Kasarani Stadium, according to the programme released ahead of your trip.

Like all columnists worth their salt, this week it seems obligatory that we write something about you, or to you. I have chosen to do the latter.

Mr President, because you have made it easy for us to understand your past, your current convictions and perhaps even future preoccupations through your written work, we feel that we know you better than perhaps we do. You exposed your passion to change people’s lives for the better, and we discovered your hopes for our planet.

VALUABLE LESSONS

Your life provides valuable lessons for a student of human nature.

Firstly, our previously received wisdom that politics is a dirty game and politicians are even dirtier was turned on its head. While we have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, you have displayed a rare candour and thoughtfulness in making your decisions.

Many have scoured your personal and public life for evidence of the usual sleaze and scandal, and seem to have come up short. You have inspired an entire generation of young people around the world to contemplate a life of public service as a result.

Secondly, you are the embodiment of the degree of social evolution that has taken place quietly over the past century or so. Your parents came from backgrounds so different that your actual existence was a statistical improbability.

Today, we take it for granted that a person can get into a relationship and marry almost anyone they want, no matter the ethnicity or social background. It is easy to forget that this has not always been the case, and in many places there was until a few years ago a law prohibiting relationships across racial barriers.

DAILY NOURISHMENT

Further, your presence in the White House would have been unthinkable at around the time you were born. Indeed, even during your candidature for the first term many wrote you off, saying that the US was not ready for a black president.

Your victory provides lessons to those of us who remain bound by unsavoury traditions that place leadership in the hands of a chosen few. Your rallying call of ‘Yes we can!” still reverberates across the planet, and provides daily nourishment to those that would give up any hope of leadership on account of their ethnicity or other social demarcation.

Finally, Mr President you have taught us the value of humility in leadership and personal life.

You have shown a willingness to listen even to your most virulent critics, and to try and distil some positive message from whatever they rail against.

You have made time to be with the lowest members of our society, and made the most sincere efforts to improve their circumstances. As someone observing you from distance, I can say without fear of contradiction that you are a good person.

I write this letter to urge you forward, and to confirm to you that your work has had a huge impact on many. I do hope that one day those of us that are truly inspired by your story will get an opportunity to sit with you and learn exactly how it can be done!

Prof Lukoye Atwoli Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Dean Moi University School of Medicine [email protected]