Madam, – Seamus McKenna (January 9th) is correct in seeing the US president-elect being cast in the role of saviour of the world.
In his excellent book The Limits of Power, Andrew J. Bacevich says that, since the election of John F. Kennedy in 1961, “the occupant of the White House has become a combination of demigod, father figure, and, inevitably, the betrayer of inflated hopes. Pope, pop star, scold, scapegoat, crisis manager, commander-in-chief, agenda-setter, moral philosopher, interpreter of the nation’s charisma, object of veneration and the butt of jokes – regardless of personal attributes and qualifications, the president is perforce all these rolled into one.”
Very many people are glad Obama won the election, as I am; but as he staffs his cabinet and adviser circle with former Clinton operatives and chooses as managers many of those who oversaw banks and economic institutions that got the country (and the world) into much of its current financial crisis, there is ample room for scepticism. – Yours, etc,