Friday

AMERICA IS BACK: THE WORLD WANTS AMERICA TO LEAD AGAIN

R-L; US President-elect Joe Biden & Vice President-elect Kamala Harris

CC™ Perspective

By Yahaya Balogun

It is gratifying to see America back to lead the world again. The last four years have been very chaotic, tumultuous, and disruptive to the American alliance in the world that is increasingly shrinking into a global village. President-elect Joe Biden is keeping his promise of bringing the fractionalized America together. He has been so measured with mature leadership. Biden's temperament has been very presidential, all-inclusive, confident, and welcoming! Even Biden's staunch enemies cannot deny his grown and measured character to bring sanity back to America and the international stage.

This auspicious period ushered in an experienced man that knows the art of leadership. Biden's wealth of experience will be a great asset to a fractured nation searching for unifiers and economic relief. The majority of Americans are suffering due to the adverse effects of Coronavirus. More than 54 million Americans are going hungry in America as a result of COVID-19. God have mercy on hungry people. It's high time Congress began the second relief package for the vulnerable Americans going through economic pains.

Interestingly, America is a nation of "We the People" and with a tumultuous beginning. The forefathers of this great nation were envisioned and very thoughtful to have created American exceptionalism. Despite America's ugly past, resilience, and ability to imagine great possibilities for her future make America a unique country. This great nation's structure was built on solid strands and stand, thus giving it a formidable entity. The existential threat to America's exceptionalism has been racial inequality. Well-informed voters have always halted the attempts to subvert her

constitution by promoting racism, division, social injustices, and intrinsic biases (subconscious stereotypes affecting how decisions are made). America has withstood so many obstacles and challenges in the past, but the last four years have amplified chaos and psychologically depressing. Thanks to the American voters' thoughtfulness on November 3, 2020, who punctuated and reversed the ugly course of history, and the road to more chaotic situations in the country, alas, worldwide. Trump administration's gross inefficiency altered America's bounteous nature, but now the government is back, striving for a perfect union.

In reality, Biden will soon be swimming in the ocean of global troubles. The world is a more dangerous place than when Donald Trump took office nearly four years ago. North Korea Kim Jong Un's recalcitrant attitude to nuclear armament, to Iran's belligerency of nuclear proliferation. The Taliban is on the deadly march again with US troops' jejune withdrawal from Afghanistan by Trump's lame-duck administration. The laundry list of corruption and leadership problems in Africa, the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, and China's expansionist behavior with its assault on democratic norms in Hong Kong. The Chinese human rights abuses against the Uighurs, and authorities' concentration or secretive internment camps against minority Turkic Muslims, Kazakhs, Kazakhstanis in remote areas in China, etc. The unabated plague of the novel Coronavirus; imminent and existential dangers of the planet to climate change. These, among others, are global inheritance by the incoming Biden administration.

The road ahead for Biden's administration will not be easy as the past domestic impediments are still lurking around. The road will be steep in the short run, but the world will veer away from the current famished highway in the long run if responsible diplomacy is allowed to function. Biden and his carefully chosen diverse team are policy wonks and are well-grounded in administrative and diplomatic skills. Biden's team consists of seasoned diplomats, career intelligence officers, and security experts. The ball is set to roll on a difficult road ahead. The world has also heaved a sigh of relief from chaos to see America lead the world again. The congratulatory messages that President-elect Joe Biden has received from world leaders, the US allies, have been very complimentary and less gratuitous from its geopolitical adversaries, including China and Russia.

Meanwhile, it is pertinent to advise the current boisterous Democrats and their elected members in the House and Senate to see Biden's electoral victory as a victory for all Americans, including those voters who did not vote for Biden. Biden's impending government must be seen as a government of unity with equity, inclusion, justice, and fair play. Biden's administration must not be seen as a vindictive government that will begin to run after Biden's predecessor and his naughty misdemeanors. The American organized jurisprudence must be allowed to function as umpire without fear or favor, and bias against any group in the nation's diversity. American greatness is not contingent only on its military might and power but on the strength of its diversity and inclusiveness.

Once again, one of our sons is soaring in trailblazing America. President-elect elect Joe Biden has Appointed 39-year-old Adewale Adeyemo, a Nigerian-born Attorney, and US citizen as US Deputy Treasury Secretary. Hopefully, if the US Senate confirms him, Adewale (Wally) Adeyemo would be the first Nigerian to get to that exalted position in the United States. America is a place where impossible things are possible. President-elect Joe Biden is assembling the best human resources from the resourceful American system. America, a land of opportunities for possibilities, will undoubtedly benefit from these carefully assembled human capital talents. Predictably, before the year 2035, Nigerian-Americans' contributions to American development will be immeasurable. Nigerian intellectual acumen will continue to be recognized anywhere in the world.

As the President-elect Joe Biden has succinctly maintained, America is back to play its leadership roles: "We are ready to lead the world and not retrieve from it. Once again, sit at the head of the table. Ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies. Ready to stand up for our values." The era of isolationism and protectionism is over. America is ready for realignment to globalization and inclusiveness. The GOP's hatchets and its extreme opposition to anything put on the table from its political adversaries must be jettisoned to pave the way for American exceptionalism. America must right the wrongs of the last four years; it must reassuringly bring all its allies together to preserve democracy's norms and other nuances of democracy in the world.

It is pertinent for the boisterous democrats and their elected members in the House and Senate to see Biden's electoral victory as a victory for all Americans, including those voters who did not vote for Biden. Biden's impending government must be seen as a government of unity with equity, inclusion, justice, and fair play. Biden's administration must not be seen as a vindictive government that will begin to run after Biden's predecessor. The American organized jurisprudence must be allowed to function as umpire without fear or favor for and bias against any group in the nation's diversity. American greatness is not contingent only on its military might and power but on the strength of its diversity and inclusiveness.

America must right the wrongs of the last four years; it must reassuringly bring all its allies together to preserve democratic norms and other nuances of democracy in the world.

America, let's go back to work!