Barack Obama

Posted By: Ibrar Khan
Date Posted: 05/11/2008

Like many people I was caught up in the breathtaking excitement surrounding last night’s U.S. elections. As the results came in there was a real, deep-seated sense that we were all experiencing something special, a truly historic moment.

Barack Obama’s victory marks a remarkable journey for Afro Americans. From slavery and segregation to the most powerful office in the world. Let us now hope the incredible tide of optimism he brings with him into the White House can be converted into positive gains that benefit all humanity.

Reflecting on this, I can’t help but think we could do with some of Obama’s magic here in Rochdale. While his central message was one of hope and renewal, here we are constantly fed a political diet of despair and stagnation. While Obama’s rallying cry was ‘Yes we can’, the message of the Lib Dems, it would seem, is ‘No we can’t’.

They can’t manage a successful town centre regeneration project, and have to admit that we’re being overtaken by other town centres, such as Bury’s. They can’t deliver dignified levels of adult care for our elderly population. Instead we get a service described by the Care Services Minister as “immoral”. And they can’t admit to their terrible mistakes either. They continue to defend Sir Cyril Smith’s asbestos cover-up, which has ensured many people have met painful and nasty deaths from asbestos cancer. And they even try to defend a reckless eviction policy that attempts to throw disabled service men out on to the streets for being behind on their water rates.

This is the politics of despair and incompetence. It has been opposed by the Labour Party at every step. Where we want to bring change and hope, they seem hellbent on preserving a truculent, sour status quo. This is no good to anyone. Is it any wonder that more people are leaving Rochdale than anywhere else in Greater Manchester?

I am convinced that the people of Rochdale have had enough of poor, graceless decisions that benefit no one. The appetite for change is growing all the time.