Obama makes Front Page News in India!!

I was certainly surprised to open up the website for an Indian newspaper and find this:

Obama says India will be top priority Ashok Easwaran

“I believe India is a strategic partner of the U.S. in 21st century”

Barack Obama

Chicago: A stronger relationship and a close strategic partnership with India will be a “top priority” of a Barack Obama administration, the Democratic presidential candidate has said.

“The U.S. should be working with India on a range of critical issues from preventing terrorism to promoting peace and stability in Asia,” Senator Obama said in an exclusive interview to IANS on Wednesday. “Joe Biden and I will make building a stronger relationship, including a close strategic partnership, with India a top priority.”

On his agenda for working with New Delhi, he said: “I also believe India is a natural strategic partner for America in the 21st century and that the U.S. should be working with India on a range of critical issues from preventing terrorism to promoting peace and stability in Asia.”

In the interview, Mr. Obama elaborated on a range of issues, from comprehensive immigration reforms and making globalisation and trade work for American workers, to seeking the active participation of the Indian American community in the process of change that he has advocated.

He said he would support “comprehensive immigration reform,” including the H-1B visa programme “to attract some of the world’s most talented people to America.”

Mr. Obama explained that he wanted to end abuses of the H1-B visas that are used by highly qualified specialists to work in the U.S. He added that he would make “immigrant workers less dependent on their employers for their right to stay in the country, and would hold accountable employers who abuse the system and their workers.”

The administration, he said, would seek to strengthen ties with the “vibrant” Indian American community and encourage their “active engagement… in making the change we seek.” He asserted that the Democratic nomination was running on the manifesto of “inclusiveness, optimism and hope” that would translate into a “progressive presidency.”

On the contentious topics of outsourcing and globalisation, he said: “We know that we cannot and should not put up walls around our economy.” Acknowledging that global competition “is a fact that cannot be reversed,” Mr. Obama added: “But we must find a way to make globalisation and trade work for American workers.”

From his days as an Illinois Senator, he has had strong links with the city’s growing Indian American community.

Here is the link to the newspaper article and other news from India:

http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/24/stories/2008102450330100.htm

My response:

I think it is smart of Obama to realize the strategic partnerships that the US has with India should be cultivated more. But I think it is highly ambitious of him to want a “comprehensive immigration reform” including the H1-B visa program. I believe that he is really in the dark about these issues and fails to remember the proposal that Bush put forward with the whole Amnesty idea a few years ago. The INS or the USCIS is a beast not to be reckoned with – ask those who work in those departments, they will tell you how crazy their days are at work. They do their best to serve and are always playing catch-up.

It often seems that Obama tells the public what they want to hear. Apparently this habit of his does not end in America but is now far-reaching around the globe. He knows that the US is struggling to keeps its nose above the water. One of the most effective ways is to build and maintain allies around the globe. He knows that India can provide the Human Resource at a much lower rate than America and it can also provide the Brain Power to help Americans keep America functioning. I am not saying that India is the only country that can do that..I am merely saying that India is one of the countries that Obama will want to have as a friend. So he gives them what they want to hear.

It would be really nice if, for once, politicians had their feet planted on the ground and not floating in the air. Their fantasies don’t always coincide with reality.