Black President enters the White House

The wait is finally over and Barack Hussein Obama will be sworn in as the 44^th President of the United States of America. Obama's win is historic as he will be the first African-American person to reach the top office in the US. The Harvard Law School graduate will have a challenging task ahead of him as he inherits a fragile economy and growing unpopularity of US around the globe especially in the Islamic world.

The world has patiently waited since November 4 2008 when Obama defeated John McCain in one of the most widely televised presidential elections. The world is waiting to see if the most powerful man on earth really lives up to the promises he made during his election campaign. The charismatic Obama had created superhero like image during his campaign and now the people's expectation on him will be high.

From as Indian perspective Barack Obama was not India's dream US President. His initial talks on putting a cap on the outsourcing industry had scared many industry leaders here in India. Later on Obama had put a slightly moderate economic front realising stopping outsourcing is easier said than done. His take on the Kashmir issue might be another hurdle in the Indo-US ties.

Irrespective of what the world thinks about him, India had the best possible relationship with US under George Bush. With a new administration in place there might some initial hiccups but our ties with the US should be a national policy irrespective of who is in power in New Delhi or Washington. We cannot ignore US and the US President and thus have to work with him for mutual benefits.

Barack Obama has to live up to the expectation of millions of people from within the US and also around the world. He rode to the While House on his promises to revive America. His slogan “Yes, We Can” had a cult following both among the Blacks and Whites.. It remains to be seen whether he changes his slogan now to “Yes, We Will”