Obama's Burden

THIS 7 NOVEMBER MARKS the day US President Barack Obama speaks in India’s parliament, an invitation not extended to his predecessor George W Bush. India’s connection with the US during the twilight of the Bush years was tethered by the controversial nuclear deal, but with Obama, India’s relationship with the superpower is not so clear-cut.

And Obama’s had other things on his mind. Coming into office amidst the largest financial crisis since 1929, this was the man the world looked to for a way out of the global credit crunch. Also waiting for presidential input were two flagging American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rife for comparisons with Vietnam.

And if this weren’t enough, the first non-white President of the United States set out to overhaul the American healthcare system and was met with outright protests from his political foes and blue-collar citizens alike. Suddenly the messiah was branded a fascist antichrist.

The further his term progresses, Obama continues to prove he’s got the energy to see his four years through, but more difficulties await the man who, on his first day in office, signed papers that would begin the process to close Guantanamo Bay and whose first meetings with world leaders were with those George W Bush had succeeded so thoroughly in alienating.

Here, in photos, are Obama’s burdens and victories so far in his term, a term that has led him to New Delhi, to his first appearance before India’s own most powerful leaders.