It was almost 14 years ago that Barack Obama exploded into the world’s consciousness. The little-known candidate, vying to be the only African-American in the US Senate, gave a rousing speech to the Democratic Party’s national convention. There have been many speeches since then, always with the overriding theme of unity and hope for positive change. During his time in office and after, he has had his critics. And there was a lot to criticise. One is his failure to close the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which has served as an open-ended prison for terror suspects apprehended mostly in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The vast majority of the prisoners were held without ever being charged or facing a trial. Despite his promise to close the facility, there were still more than 40 prisoners held there by the time he left office. There was also the accusation that far from stepping back from Bush-era wars, he maintained and even expanded US intervention. On the US domestic front, he ...
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