Novelist Mircea Cartarescu on expectations of Barack Obama

Thanks to his brilliant inaugural address the new US President Barack Obama has been sold to us as the next messiah, writes Romanian novelist Mircea Cartarescu in the daily Evenimentul Zilei: "His message of universal brotherhood has been enthusiastically received in palaces and huts, mosques and synagogues. The ceremonies and processions that marked his inauguration are reminiscent of nothing if not the return of Jesus to Jerusalem on a donkey's back, amidst cries of praise from people who threw palm branches at his feet. This is how we expected to see the new prophet who is to heal all the evils that have accumulated on this seemingly so prosperous planet. We expect Obama to slow global warming, ... establish global peace and end the global crisis. America - and we too - are living a fairytale the likes of which we haven't seen since the glorious days of Michael Jackson. A fantastic fairytale which even Hollywood would hesitate to put on film. ... If Barack Obama wants to be successful in the White House and prove himself as a good president it is vital that he escape these media-generated excesses. He should dispense with the role of star and reign in the over-inflated hopes people have placed on his administration. But wouldn't that mean him giving up precisely what has helped him to success?"

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