The scary tale of Cinderella

It's every little girl's favorite fairy tale. Poor Cinderella, with her dainty glass slipper, wins the prince's love and becomes his wife.

A modern version of the fairy tale has just ended happily in the US. A boy whose father came from a tiny village in Kenya has grown up to become the president of the United States, the world's most powerful country.

There's no glass slipper and no wife-taking, but it's a Cinderella story nonetheless. And it proves that, in America, just about anything is possible.

The rest of the story

But the story of Cinderella intentionally ends at the best and happiest moment for the couple, their wedding. If it were to continue, the little girl listening to the story would not be able to fall asleep. Instead, in order to avoid difficult questions, the story ends with, "And they lived happily ever after..."

Let us take a moment to imagine how the story would really end. After a year, the prince would start to get bored because he had nothing to talk about with his wife, and when she spoke at a grand ball he would lower his gaze in shame. Instead of immersing herself in courtly intrigues, Cinderella would spend hours on end watching soap operas. She would not be able to distinguish Brahms from Bach and would cultivate a sophisticated air of grandeur based on a fake tan and plastic fingernails.

After pumping out several kids, she would grow fat and unhygienic. Her uncouth family would visit the castle with alarming frequency. The prince would often slip away from home on official kingdom business, accompanied by his perky, well-educated personal assistant.

Change, change, change

At precisely the moment I wrote this, Barack Obama was at the best point in his fairy tale. He worked hard for his success and, in achieving it, he became the embodiment of the American dream, broke through old barriers and demonstrated that anything is possible in America. 

He is a man from nowhere, the child of a broken home and, let's face it, the grandson of a woman who lives in a hut. And he succeeded without the help of a fairy godmother. Perseverance and the good fortune that he lived in America were enough.

His words "Yes, we can" acquired quite a special overtone during the campaign. "I could, you can too," he assured his supporters at election rallies.

"We need change" - these were the words that Americans hung on most. This was not just a question of a desire for political change after eight years of Republican rule. Plunged into a dire financial crisis, America wants "change" and wants to believe that it "can." Barack Obama created, for the purposes of his campaign, a vision of America which the majority of voters want to see become a reality.

Sorry, we can't?

Unfortunately for Obama and the US, his story will not end at such a fine moment. No one will say: "And America lived happily ever after..."

The euphoria surrounding the election will soon subside and the Democrats will have to start to make good on their promises. The forecasts are not good: analysts predict that the crisis in America may last for three to four years - in other words, nearly an entire presidential term. In addition, the last eight years have left Americans more divided than they have been in a long time.

The hope that Obama brought to the American people is double-edged. If, after a year or two, it seems that "unfortunately, we can't," a very large and hopeful part of society will fall into frustration and despair. And it is well documented that social frustration can quickly transform into aggression and abandonment of the Social Contract.

If Obama and the Democrats cannot cope with the economic crisis and make good on some of their campaign promises, America may meet with a significantly worse crisis, a social crisis. The effects of this potential catastrophe would be significantly harder to foresee and recover from than the credit crunch.

Joanna Wóycicka is the former head of the foreign sections of the Życie Warszawy and Życie newspapers and the former head of the foreign department at the Polish Press Agency (PAP).