Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy

Volume 69, 2018

Political Philosophy

Diplobamacy and the Obama Doctrine
Democracy, Demographics and Cosmocitizenship

The 2008 and 2012 presidential elections in the United States of America showed that democracy and demographics are correlated in a microcosmic nation, where the concept of majority ethnic group is becoming an endangered species. President Obama’s reelection victory can be attributed, among other factors, to the Obama Code, or Obama’s “effective way to bring the country together around fundamental American values” (Lakoff). The victory was also due to his domestic ‘Diplobamacy’, i.e., Obama’s cultural understanding of, effective dialogue and communication on domestic issues and policies relative to gender, class, race, immigration, and age, also referred to as ‘Gender Diplobamacy’, ‘Class Diplobamacy’, ‘Race Diplobamacy’, ‘Immigration Diplobamacy’, and ‘Millennial Diplobamacy’. Throughout President Obama’s first term and during both presidential campaigns, he showed that not only did his biracial identity allow him to better understand the complex demographic and cultural realities of today’s USA, but it also allowed him to see our common humanity and interests in a networked global village. The Obama Code and Diplobamacy allowed Obama to forge a new majority through “the coalition of the ascendant” (Stengel). In the 21st-century’s multipolar world, “the Obama Doctrine” prefigures a new era of multilateralism, renewed internationalism, global democracy, and cosmocitizenship.