Will there ever be a British Obama?
Posted on 07 June 2008 by Shamik Das
Barack Hussein Obama made history by becoming the first black candidate to win the Presidential nomination of a major US party.
To scenes of wild jubilation, Mr Obama proclaimed himself “the Democratic nominee for President of the United States”. It was pure theatre, history in the making, a day many of us never thought we’d live to see.
Half a century on from Rosa Parks’s courageous act of defiance and 40 years after Martin Luther King’s assassination, the son of a Kenyan Muslim father and white American mother passed the magic 2,118-delegate winning post following the South Dakota and Montana primaries.
Hillary Clinton has since pulled out of the race, finally conceding to her more politically appealing rival - but Barack Obama’s biggest challenge lies ahead, against the Republican candidate John McCain.
To those watching on this side of the Atlantic, the Illinois senator’s success begs the question of whether or not Britain will ever vote for a black or Asian Prime Minister.
At present there are only 15 black and Asian Members of Parliament, a mere two per cent of the 646 MP’s in the House of Commons, none of whom are in the Cabinet or anywhere near to challenging for the leadership of their party. Of these, three are Parliamentary Under Secretaries of State - effectively the third rung of the Ministerial ladder - one is a whip and one a Parliamentary Private Secretary, the lowest branch of the Ministerial tree.
The three Parliamentary Under Secretaries are David Lammy (Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills), Parmjit Dhanda (Department for Communities and Local Government) and the first Muslim Minister ever to serve in the British Government, Shahid Malik (Department for International Development).
Ashok Kumar is PPS to Environment Secretary Hilary Benn while Sadiq Khan probably has one of the most important jobs of all; as an assistant whip he is tasked with building a consensus on new legislation, which at present involves him working flat out to reach a compromise with backbenchers on the Government’s controversial proposals for 42 days detention without trial for terror suspects.
However, as with Benjamin Disraeli and Margaret Thatcher in the last two centuries - Britain’s first non-Christian and first female Prime Ministers - it may well be to the Conservatives that progressives turn in this century for the first non-white Prime Minister of Britain.
In Adam Afriye, Member of Parliament for Windsor and shadow Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, they posses a man with whom there are many parallels with Senator Obama.
For one, they share the same birthday - August 4th - with Mr Afriye four years younger than Mr Obama. They also share a similar background, the Windsor MP having an African father, from Ghana, and English mother. Both of them have tremendous academic credentials and political acumen, possess charm and charisma by the bucket load and, crucially, come across well in the media, in newspapers and on television, have broad appeal and do not “scare” white voters either in mid-America or middle Britain.
For Windsor’s finest his time is yet to come, but for Barack Obama the hour is now, destiny is in his hands, history there to be written as the sands of time tick away and November draws ever near.
He’s won the battle, but will he win the war?
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Tags : politics
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June 7th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
It is a very long time away. Come back in 25 years. If i happens, it will be a Black Briton who it will be. Never will it be a Asian. Never, ever.
June 7th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
“Never will it be a Asian. Never, ever.”
Is this ignorance, or a level of prejudice… or do you actually have some substance behind that statement?
June 7th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
an asian may become prime minister oneday, but it is a long long way away.
asians arent as ‘integrated’ as balck people yet, we still have a strong connection to our asian culture. we are still very different on the whole to white english people.
maybe once the majority of asians become ‘coconuts’ then we’ll be seen as ‘integrated’ and maybe then we can hope for an asian PM, but it’ll juts be a white guy in brown skin.
June 7th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I was always under the impression that Great Britain was more likely to sport an ethnic leader(Prime Minster) than the United States, simply because of Britain’s history of willingness to implement change. Good examples are William Wilberforce’s campaign to end the transatlantic slave trade or even a few hundred years before that, the end of an apartheid-like society in Britain.
Personally, I am not fussed about the person’s ethnic background as long as he represents and implements the values I would want to have upheld in this country. He could be black, white, brown or whatever for all I care. He just has to deliver.
June 9th, 2008 at 12:25 am
It’s all a PR stunt. The US need a make-over esp now after all this crap from the war and Obama is doing that. Instantly it gets recognition for being ‘integrated’, ‘open-minded’, ‘fair’, ‘innovative’ and ‘cool’ - when the reality is far from the truth. The US will still not change its foreign policies of supporting terrorists (Israel), sucking all resources from smaller countries and enforcing its ‘democracy’ aka dictatorship on the world.
wahooo, go Obama.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Politics in the states is different from here, the people show alot of support there hoping 4 a change
bt its a media show
thy tour the different states like rock stars
either way we will nt have numbers of asian politicians jst yet
i think we are at least 20 years away frm seeing this happening
slowly we have broken in2 the industries like music, corporate etc….
once the public c us as normal people nt terrorist with hidden agendas
thn we can possibly c a candidate 4 prime minister
bt i agree with Pras , the person can be any colour thy want …jst deliver they preach
one more thing Kadija lets nt try 2 brand any1 terrorists, there’s enough hate in the world. let that country sort out its own problems & hope other countries back out. its nt ours 2 deal with.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:11 am
If Obama wins I hope he has an entourage of boydyguards. If they can assassinate JFK who was white, then this guy hasn’t got a chance.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
JFK was shot in an open top vehicle
i’m sure nw thy have better security infrastructures
sumthin in the bak of my mind does say there will be attempts on his life
poor sod
lets hope the residents of the USA give Obama a fair chance
June 15th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
It’s neck and neck at present, and a lot may depend on how Hillary’s supporters react to her defeat. Some of her most fervent backers have said they won’t campaign for Obama, with some saying they won’t even vote for him. There was a lot of bad blood, negative campaigning and personal attacks between the two during the campaign.
Obama’s choice of VP will also be important. My money’s on John Edwards.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Bobby Jindal, the Indian governor of Louisiana, has a legitimate shot at becoming President within the next 15 years or so, but at the moment he is too young and experienced. So, the answer to the question is yes… although Jindal and Obama are polar opposites in terms of political views.
I also believe that we will see an Asian (Indian) Presidnet of the U.S. long before we see an Asian P.M. in Britain… largely because Indian people have a somewhat better “image” in the US than in UK (my unscientific opinion only)