Obama, jai ho!!

Obama finally spoke like Obama.

After two days of addressing his home constituency, Obama addressed issues concerning India and its neighbourhood.

A child of rhetoric and hype, ably supported by Michelle, the big O used correct words and images. He invoked Mahatma Gandhi, 'India has emerged', dhanyavad [=thanks] and jai hind [=hail India], and finally supported India's claim for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. For once, he also said, Pak was slow in acting against terrorists and it was unacceptable that Pakistan had terrorist safe-heavens within its borders.

It was but expected that Manmohan Singh will go out of the way to please Obama. He did and the big brother seems to have been pleased. So, he used it to his advantage by thanking India profusely. He dosn't lose a cent by saying that India is now a world power but earns the goodwill that floors Indians and paves way for US companies getting big business from India. US gains, Obama gains, Manmohan gains, maybe India gains too.

The sense of euphoria from Obama's overtures and statements seems to be a bit too much: look the way MPs were cheering Obama at his every sweet-nothing pronouncement in parliament yesterday; look at the banner haedlines and full front-page coverage in today's papers. Our TV news channels had to overdo Obama, but they over-over did it.

India News needs to shout: Jai ho, Obama!!