¡Si su puede! – campaign slogan for Gonzalo “Goni” Sanchez de Lozada
Yes we can! – campaign slogan for Barack Obama.
Two men who became president only a few years apart (1) In two very different, but also similarly divided countries. Bolivia, divided primarily by class, notably with the indigenous peoples many of the poorest; and the United States, divided politically between the left and the right, also, like Bolivia, divided between the haves and the have nots. Both these men were intelligent, well-educated, and arrogant. And, both men were met by large opposition throughout their respective countries: Goni by indigenous protestors, poor people who, while they may have not been educated enough to even understand his economic aims, more importantly didn’t necessarily have reason to care, focused more on the day to day problems, on living life in an economically broken country; Obama by political opponents, the Republican Party, “the party of No,” the teabaggers, the birthers.
Notably, both men had to boil their campaigns down to simplistic campaign slogans to even get elected, had to resort to rhetoric to get votes. Explaining one’s point in a long speech may seem like the way to go, but far too often, in large populations, one has to pare everything down, cut away all the excess and give the people a simple phrase to which they can attach themselves.
¡Si su puede!
Yes we can!
Goni was forced to resign after 14 months, after protests and riots. Obama is only coming to the 14-month mark in the next couple weeks. There are no violent riots, but there is certainly still active opposition. Goni’s problem was simple: the indigenous made up a large part of Bolivia, and in what was essentially a 3-candidate race, he won with only 22.5% of the vote. Obama, on the other hand, had more than 50.
Despite opposition, Goni set out to get foreign investment in Bolivia—in his earlier term as president, he has privatized some businesses, for the purpose of bringing in capital and creating jobs, but with the effect of putting local business under foreign control, and effectively taking jobs away from local, indigenous people… as global capitalism would dictate. Bolivia is a relatively poor country, so, serving the structural forces of the world, it would be appropriate that it be exploited. And, Goni’s economic plans might have even helped the economy within Bolivia in the long run… If only the short run had not been making a large population of poor people think their country was being sold off (again) to foreigners.
Similarly, Obama began his presidency with highly debated economic programs, and significant efforts to reach out to regimes “on the wrong side of history.” He “sought to ‘reset’ relations with Russia by searching for common ground on arms control, missile defense, and Afghanistan. He began scaling back economic sanctions against Cuba. And he put out diplomatic feelers to Myanmar… and Syria” (3). Michelle Malkin, Fox News regular and outspoken opponent to Obama, suggested that he “solidified his place in the international view as the great appeaser and the groveler in chief.” The birthers spoke out, demanding his birth certificate. In Bolivia, opposition to Goni began to refer to him as Gringo—as he had been educated and spent much of his life in the United States, as his father has been in exile here (4). Teabaggers compared Obama to Hitler, and spoke vehemently against his healthcare ambitions as Socialism. Goni’s opponents crowded around government offices and broke down the doors.
The key ingredient here as to why Goni was forced to resign and Obama will have at least his four years is a simple matter of politics, specifically democracy. Obama had more support, and our two-party system is steeped in a sense of stability inasmuch as we know that whatever gets done now can be reversed or retarded in 4 years. So, while opposition may be loud, it doesn’t necessarily resort to violence any longer.
(1) Goni had a previous term as president, but his latest campaign was in 2003, Obama’s in 2007
(2) Yeah, I’m talking about global capitalism again, but then again, I’m a bit of a structuralist… obviously
(3) Charles Kupchan. “Enemies Into Friends,” Foreign Affairs 03/01/10
(4) Now, Goni is, like his father, living in exile in America