Obama’s Test

Hope has a short half-life. Right now most of the world is simply happy to see an end to the Bush years. Even so, there’s no denying that Obama generates much more excitement internationally than, say, Hillary Clinton would have had she been elected President. Much, though not all, of this excitement is generated by Obama’s personal story, not his policies. Nothing either wrong or surprising about that, though foreigners do like all the stuff about how Obama intends to restore America’s standing in the world.

But there will come a time, not immediately but sometime, when flesh needs to be put on those rhetorical bones. A time when promises must be followed by action. A time for cheques to be cashed. And that means action on Guantanamo Bay and Extraordinary Rendition. Understandably, we haven’t heard much about thos sort of thing on the campaign trail. Certainly, there’s not much mention of these issues on Obama’s website.