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JAMAICANS IN North America are backing the foreign policy proposals of the United States Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama over those of his rival, Republican Senator John McCain.
Jamaicans in the diaspora believe Obama's diplomacy-centred policy will, generally, be positive for the Caribbean and the world, as they will help mend America's broken relationship with some countries and improve its image abroad. Jamaican nationals in North America also believe Obama's policies will promote world peace, while McCain's policies, they argue, will do exactly the opposite of Obama's.
"The number-one issue is Iraq because our children are going away to be slaughtered," says Irwine Clare, director of the Caribbean Immigrant Services, a non-profit group, based in New York.
"His decision to draw down the troops will help to defuse that type of war mentality that we have," says Clare. "As a parent, my worry is that my son will be involved in a war that we have no business being involved in.
"At the rate at which these leaders are carrying on, it is as if they want us to fight with everybody," he added.
Opponent of the war
Obama was an opponent of the war from the start in 2003 and has said he will drastically withdraw United States troops during the first 16 months of his presidency, leaving behind small units for tactical missions.
The war has cost the US more than 4,000 lives since it began and US$2.7 trillion.
Contrary to Obama, McCain says US troops should remain in Iraq to give support to the Iraqi government until it is capable of supporting itself.
Philip Mascoll, president of the Jamaican Diaspora in Canada, argues that McCain's policy will only lead to more retaliation from terrorists and attacks on the West.
"You need to be out of there (Iraq), you need to negotiate with them, you need to hit back only when you are attacked. I think that is the view Obama is taking which is the rational view," Mascoll argues.
Not entirely beneficial
However, an Obama presidency may not be entirely beneficial for the Caribbean, Clare suggests. He thinks Obama's economic policies may negatively affect the Caribbean as they are aimed at securing more jobs for Americans. That, he argues, could see more people losing jobs in Caribbean states where large American companies have set up factories or outsourced services.
<span style="font-weight: bold">But Mascoll says Obama's economic policy proposals will leave the Caribbean no better or worse off than it already is.</span>
"America's investment is what? They are no longer too interested in bauxite ... . What investment they have here is multiplied tenfold by what we buy from them," he says.
He notes that tourism is the economic staple of Caribbean states and Obama's policies are not expected to hurt that.
Think outside of the box
"I don't think we should start to worry about it. What we should start to worry about is how to think outside of the box," advised Mascoll.
But former New York City Councilwoman Una Clarke feels the Caribbean has much to gain from Obama's foreign policy outlook. While she acknowledges that the Caribbean and Jamaica, in particular, have not seen much benefit accruing to its economy since the policies of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, she said it will be up to Caribbean states to make the most of
."<span style="font-weight: bold">We have to understand that Barack understands that the Caribbean is the third border of the United States of America, that we are their closest allies and longest friends</span>," she said.
<span style="font-weight: bold">That the region has failed to benefit from former US foreign policies is no fault of America</span>, she says.
"We have not clarified as a region and as a people what it is that we want from America. So Trinidad has run off and done their own deal, Jamaica goes off and does their own deal ... because we have not come up with an understanding of our region, our goals and objectives as partners doing business with the US," she argues.
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