TV actors share their thoughts on Barack Obama being re-elected as the US President

Yesterday (7 November 2012) when the United States of America voted to give Barack Hussein Obama a second term as the President, many Indians went crazy on social networking sites heaping praises on him. Hence we spoke to a few TV actors about what they felt about this great victory and hopes from him for the future. Rohit Roy wondered, “How could the US electorate re-elect back someone who failed to live up to the huge expectations of not only Americans but also the rest of world? The world’s largest economy is still not out of the woods after the recent subprime mortgage crisis which was likened to the Great Depression of the 1920’s and 30’s. ” Samir Soni (Parichay) on the other hand was more charitable and said, “Some of those hopes were simply not practical. However, I wish that he does not resort to same kind of protectionism which he did in his first term that had harmed the outsourcing industry back home in India.” Superdude season 2 judge Sofia Maria Hayat seconded Samir by saying, “Real change only come during the second term as you first need to secure your place and I am confident that he will now walk the talk.” Rupali Ganguly took a completely different route by blasting Obama, “He was bad for India (outsourcing). For all the scorn we heaped on Obama’s predecessor George W Bush, he still was the best bet for us. Did we not get the maximum export orders during his watch and how can we forget the Indo- US nuclear deal which ended years of N apartheid for India?” Obama seems to impress all with his brilliant oratory and reconciliatory approach. Sofia seemed to be totally bitten as she hails him, “As a president who is not solely motivated by financial gains but someone who cares for our planet. I love him for he thinks that the right to be cured (universal health care issue) should be a human right and not based on your financial status.” She went on, “I was bowled over by his acceptance speech where he added gays to Black, Whites and Hispanics etc. Having a black man as head of state gives hope to discriminated ethnic minorities all over the world. It heralds the horizon of a non prejudiced new world view. We are all humans, being black or gay does not impair our abilities. ” Coming to foreign policy Obama seems to be on track for most Indians, Rohit said, ‘India is a growing power and it is in the American interest as well to interact more with us in trade, energy and other sunshine sectors.” Samir added, ‘The Democratic party candidate has really lowered the boom on Pakistan over the past couple of years and I hope that this trend continues as terrorism is a major scourge affecting world peace.” When we asked for the reason about Indians going crazy after Obama’s win Rupali explained, ‘Let’s face it. US is the only super power left in the world and what direction it takes does impact the rest of the world.” Rohit attributes this Obama worship to, “the inherent white fixation in our psyche.” A defensive Samir fired back saying, “I did not really follow the American elections but yes there are many Indians who did so and I wonder will they pay the same attention come next Lok Sabha election.” Last but not the least comes what lessons can India learn from US election 2012? Dimple Jhangiani (Amrit Manthan) here shared, “We need to have presidential style debates where all the prime ministerial candidates put forward their plans of action.” Rohit hoped that, “he sees a direct face off on national TV between Narendera Modi and Rahul Gandhi in the run up to 2014 elections.” However, Samir sounded skeptical saying, “We don’t have quality debates. Most contestants rather than talking about how positively they can contribute to nation building only end up pointing fingers at each other.” n closing, Dimple added, “One of the biggest learning we can imbibe is to reform our political process and bring in a two party system.” This will also end the bane of politicians switching sides at the drop of a hat,” ended Samir.