Symbolism outweighs content

The Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt writes in his blog that the new US President Barack Obama benefits from enormous moral credibility, but that the symbolism of Obama's inauguration outweighed his message: "As I followed the address I saw that Obama's policy was embodied in his person more than in his words. The presidential inauguration of an African American from a humble background whose middle name is Hussein: this is the most radical change one could possibly imagine. And it is this change, more than the policy measures Obama will possibly or probably introduce, which endows American politics with new potential and power."

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