AS Jamaicans join others around the world in praising the United States' first black Presidential nominee Sen Barack Obama for his historic win on Tuesday, at least one professor is urging the Caribbean region not to expect any windfalls.

Rather, Professor Rupert Lewis of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, said the region would have to set its own agenda in terms of what it wants from the United States.

In fact, the professor told the Observer that he did not expect Obama's presidency to alter US foreign policy. "Obama is not going to be playing any black role; he's going to be pursuing America's agenda, which will need to be strengthened by black Americans, but I don't see an advantage for the Caribbean - the Caribbean will have to define what it wants from the States," he said.

And the push to further Jamaica's interests was not lost on Junior Foreign Minister Ronald Robinson. He reminded that it was against the country's foreign policy to involve itself in the politics of a sovereign state, but said that government would seek to meet with the Obama and McCain campaigns, beginning later this month at the New York Conference on the Caribbean.

"We would like to sit with both candidates and their representatives and get a feel. We will be seeking to do that through our ambassador in Washington or through the ministerial level and introduce them to what Jamaica and Caricom are doing," Robinson told the Observer yesterday.
In welcoming Obama's win, he said Jamaica celebrated with him, given his bi-racial status.

"We are hoping that it will mean a better understanding of how we as a people exist and the struggles that we have to go through. We do hope that we will be at the forefront of the thinking of the United States," he told the Observer.

Deputy general secretary of the Opposition People's National Party (PNP), Julian Robinson (no relation), acknowledged the historic nature of the win, coming 40 years after suffrage was extended to all black Americans. However, he cautioned that other than the optimism for change associated with Obama, there remained little indication of his policies regarding Jamaica and the Caribbean.

"I think it's going to be difficult to say what this means for Jamaica because we haven't seen from his foreign policy, what his approach to Jamaica, the Third World and the Caribbean will be. So, apart from the emotion of his winning, I think it's hard to say what his Presidency could mean," the PNP general secretary said.

Barack Obama on Tuesday beat Hillary Clinton to the Democratic nomination, following months of rigourous campaigning across the US. The 45-year-old will face Republican nominee John McCain, a 71-year-old Vietnam War veteran, in the November 4 presidential elections.
Political historian, Troy Cain described the win as "a monumental, historical event".

At the same time, Cain noted that there could be no question of Obama's nomination being a source of pride for Caribbean people.

"I am sure it will mean some degree of pride for the people in the Caribbean in terms of how they relate to a similar situation since the majority of people in the Caribbean are black people," he said.

Anthropologist Herbert Gayle also noted the significance of the win.

"First of all, it flies in the face of a lot of what has been said about racism in the United States. Here is a black man who is now the primary nominee. It says that the United States is maturing. There is no doubt about it. That is the greatest political statement that the United States has made since its abolition of slavery. It is a powerful message to the world," he said.