Correct yourself, even if you are Obama

Comparisons are odious, if one attempts to do that between the elections in the US and those in Kerala. The parties are different, the cultures are diametrically opposite, the ways of life are not linear.

Still there can be some sort of a general reference. Obama had romped home to victory as the US President, the first African-American one in the history of that great nation, on the plank of ‘change’.

People overwhelmingly supported him. Two years down the lane, people have felt that ‘change’ for the better is not that on the way. His party, the Democratic Party, has got majority in the Senate, though in a reduced way, but rival, Republican Party, has gained 50 per cent majority in the House of Representatives, which is the lower house of the Congress.

That means Obama cannot get his legislations passed in the House of Representatives without the support of the Republican Party. For sure, the American people would see to it that on policy matters the parties may join together and work for the betterment of the people who are now seeped in a situation of rising unemployment and weak economy.

What about the Communists-led LDF in Kerala, India, where they got a drubbing in the local administration bodies elections. The LDF may have done something in the ruling realms. But the people were not enamoured. In a democracy, the people have to feel the affability of the administrators.

It is here that many operators in the political and administrative arenas have failed. The people should be respected. When we refer to people, they are vast and variegated. You cannot call them names, cannot humiliate them, on the contrary they should feel that the government is with them.

No section of the people can be ignored and they should not be termed as abominable. If there are criminals among them, action should be taken against such elements in accordance with the provisions of the law of the land. Others should be roped in for good governance.

Mind you, people should not be laughed at for their faith or non-faith.
The LDF may have opportunities to launch a diatribe against the UDF during the 2011-2016 period when the players in the UDF may not be able to cater to the interests of all the sections clinging on with it.