Awesome Obama?

Anticipation was building up around the UN headquarters yesterday morning. The traffic was, too. With almost the entire east side of the city in lock-down, roaring helicopters above our heads and an NYPD checkpoint on every corner, the arrival of President Obama was hard to miss. ‘The President is here on some business’, a police officer answered dutifully when asked what Obama was doing here. Bystanders, trying to catch a glimpse of their leader, didn’t really know why he was here either. It seems the MDGs are not exactly popular among Americans. ‘The MDGs are possibly the most visionary deal that most people have never heard of’, Bono wrote this week in the New York Times.

‘The subject of the summit meeting at the United Nations this week is one whose monumental importance is matched only by its minuscule brand recognition’, the rock star and social activist continues. But Obama’s address to the UN MDG summit might help to raise more public awareness. The President announced the new US global development policy, the first of its kind by an American administration, putting the MDGs in the spotlight. He spoke of a ‘big-hearted, but also big-headed approach’, shifting development to the core of American foreign policy.

‘Kennedy-esque’, and ‘awesome’, read some of today’s reactions to Obama’s speech. Oxfam America president Ray Offenheiser said that the President’s landmark directive fills ‘a much-needed void by clearly defining that the US mission for fighting global poverty is to promote broad-based economic growth and democratic governance’. Offenheiser also applauded Obama’s issuance of a clear mandate that country ownership of his administration will pursue the fight against poverty. ‘But we need Obama to explain how he will turn his words to action.’

Civil society organizations feel their call for action has not been answered. Now that the MDG summit had ended, it seems civil society and advocacy organizations are disappointed with the results. Action Aid’s Joanna Kerr said she feels disillusioned by the lack of financial pledges towards eliminating extreme poverty and spurring international development. ‘You come out of the summit with a draft outcome document that has a very long laundry list with many wonderful aspirations. You can’t eat an aspiration. At the end of the day, nearly one billion are still going to be hungry.’