Kishwar Desai

May.02 : It is interesting to be in the United States of Barack Obama in the week that he celebrates his 100th presidential day. There is still a sense that he is ahead of the game — even though the critics are trying to punch a hole in his credibility.Watching his live press conference, where he did not duck a single question, he continuously created a sense of confidence in his abilities. In an unsteady global environment he appears centered, focused and true, as when he calmly pointed out that Pakistan should stop treating India as its main threat when it obviously has other problems which are far more serious.

Even while deftly suggesting some consensus-building on uncomfortable local issues such as abortion, he was able to deliver some smart oratory. There are those who think Mr Obama is more of a performer than a really serious change-proponent — but overall, he seems to have conjured up a national mood to turn the tide, to buck the recession.

It is difficult not to envy the Americans right now. There is none of the gloom experienced in the UK — or even the despair with politics that grips India in the middle of its most difficult, and most hopeless, election. While these aforementioned countries seem to feel that change will take a long, long time to come — in America, despite the empty shops and the slowing down of the property market, there is an irrepressible sense of optimism. And only one man is responsible for creating that hope: Barack Obama.

While viewers of one TV channel rated his performance only with a B+, it would still have brought a smile to the face of media managers back at the White House as this is a much, much higher rating than any other leader of the Western world is likely to get at this point in world history.

Yet this minute monitoring has meant that Mr Obama was on TV for almost the whole of his 100th day.

His attitude and demeanour was similar to the one through which he had wooed his voters in the run-up to the elections — the slightly self-deprecatory sense of humour, the elegant turn of phrase and the constant attention to detail. Political pundits by and large were hard pressed to find anything really harsh or critical to say about him.

The honeymoon is still on.

Mr Obama has passed with flying colours on foreign policy and demolished the fear that his selection of Hillary Clinton would end up dividing the White House. However, the best part of Mr Obama’s presidency seems to be that he had made the Americans feel good about themselves all over again — despite all the problems they face.

His desire to engage the world in a conversation, even inviting "enemy" states such as Iran for a dialogue, has greatly improved the image of America abroad. The interesting part is, no matter where you are in America you will always meet, as I have, former Republican supporters who now cheer for Democrats. It is also surprising how completely the last President, George W. Bush, has been forgotten!

However, the reportage of "100 days of Obama" was only matched by the shrillness of coverage of the swine flu. As California declared a state of emergency, I was totally taken aback, and very impressed, by the relentless pursuit of the "killer" virus. In fact, even though the media kept saying that they were not fear-mongering, the fact is that they have sent teams to Mexico and reportedly tracked down the first victim of swine flu — a young child who actually survived the virus.

There were some unintentional hilarious moments, such as interviews with other children who had gone through symptoms of high fever who were asked to describe how they felt. The description was not at all different from the times you or I have been ill, but the infliction of "aapko kaisa lag raha hai" is obviously a universal phenomenon!

As cases continued to be reported from different states, there was also an appreciation of the fact that neighbouring Mexico has been transparent about disseminating information about the flu. It was a welcome change from the silence that came from China over the "bird flu" — and also the hamhanded response from India in dealing with bird culling following reports of the virus in the Northeast last year.

Quite extraordinarily, Mr Obama even gave a short lecture on how people should remember to wash their hands and cover their mouths when they coughed, in order to stay safe from swine flu and not infect others.

The US government is quite confident of being able to discover a vaccine by autumn. That is crucial because the fear is that while the virus is likely to be dormant in the summer, it may return as the cold descends.

Even though the virus seems to be spreading, there are no masks on anyone’s face in California as yet. And even though schools are being shut in Texas and New York, I can only hope that I am allowed next week to travel out of here (even though I don’t even have a suspicion of a sniff!).

Meanwhile, for those of us who still remember that wonderful song — If you’re going to San Francisco be sure to wear some flowers in your hair, this was a city associated first with the gold rush, and then with flower children and the hippie movement. It still has some memories of those gentler, and sometimes more rebelliously idealistic, times. One remnant of a defiant movement which San Francisco was associated with is of course the famous bookshop "City Lights" started by the poet-publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It is a beautiful bookshop, spread over two floors, in which the most welcoming point is the poetry room where you are welcome to sit and read.

I picked up a copy of Howl from there — a 40th-anniversary edition of Allen Ginsberg’s poem which was first published in 1956.

In that year copies of the book were seized by US Customs who declared it obscene and arrested its publisher/editor Ferlinghetti. There was a court case and finally the judge was persuaded that the poem had "redeeming social significance".

In this great and liberal bustling city one forgets that so many different battles have been fought and won — the scars of which still lie buried beneath its glittering and swish facade.

The writer can be contacted at kishwardesai@yahoo.com

Kishwar Desai