FEW events in recent history have so captured public imagination as the just concluded U. Presidential elections. And unlike the excitement generated by the victories of Bill Clinton or Tony Blair earlier, seen by many as heralding both a new political vision and a new style of leadership, this time around both the interest in and expectation from the outcome infected individuals across nations and cultures. This in a world fearing global meltdown and a heightening of conflict speaks to us of new possibilities, if only we recover the ability to hear.
Many lessons will be drawn from the victory of Barack Obama, both the careful crafting of his campaign strategy โ the drive to enrol new and first time voters, the creative use of new technologies to interact with the young, the drawing in of volunteers, and the amazingly successful strategy of raising campaign finance โ and, even more, his continual ability to rise above the fray and reach out to an audience beyond the core Democratic Party supporters.
His speech on race has already secured its place in history. Less recognized perhaps, as Peter deSouza in the recently delivered Maulana Azad Memorial Lecture reminds us, were the acceptance and concession speeches of the two candidates โ John McCain and Barack Obama.
But, as we too move into a season of a bruising political campaign, elections to six state legislatures which are widely perceived as defining the terrain for the forthcoming general elections, has our political class, the various parties and their leaders, learnt any lessons? In their selection of issues, campaign modes and styles, and candidates, are our political leaders speaking to and trying to connect with the India in the making?
Or are they, as conventional political wisdom suggests, once again focusing on the faultlines in society, appealing to narrow and sectional interests, fanning insecurities rather than seeking to unite the polity. We, as the Chinese say, live in interesting times.
