When she takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention Monday evening, Michelle Obama will surely discuss her husband's many achievements and the promise for America that his groundbreaking candidacy represents. What she is less likely to talk about is just how instrumental she has been to launching her husband's political trajectory or that this tough, razor-smart Chicago native had to sacrifice many of her own career ambitions along the way.
From almost the earliest days of their personal and professional partnership, Barack Obama's political aspirations have guided Michelle's path. At the end of the summer of 1989, Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin, a prestigious Chicago law firm that also happened to employ a young intellectual-property lawyer and Harvard Law grad named Michelle Robinson. Obama was offered a permanent job at Sidley, though senior partner Newton Minow wasn't surprised when he turned the firm down; the two had often discussed the intern's political plans, and Minow had pledged to help Obama in his pursuit of a place in public life. But Obama didn't just turn the firm down. Minow, a former Federal Communication Commission chairman, recalls that Obama told him to take a seat: "You may not want to help me after you hear the rest of what I've got to say. I'm taking Michelle with me."
"You no good, worthless —" Minnow said, jumping up angrily. "Hold it," Obama said, raising a hand. "We're going to get married."
Most women might not appreciate their boyfriend's effectively giving notice on their behalf. Michelle, though, didn't seem to mind. Not only were they engaged a year later, but sure enough, Michelle surprised her family and friends and left the law to go into public service. It was a move that would prove fateful for both her and her husband: the contacts she made were invaluable, some say essential, to his state senate and U.S. Senate races.
The child of Marian and Fraser Robinson, a stay-at-home mother and a city pump operator, Michelle was raised in a close-knit family that ate every meal together, played Monopoly and read together. "Nobody emphasized public service. What was emphasized was doing what you love to do and you'll be good at whatever you do," says Craig Robinson, Michelle's brother, who left his banking job after a decade to coach college basketball. That didn't stop Robinson from being surprised when Michelle left Sidley Austin to become an assistant to Chicago mayor Richard Daley. "Her father asked her, 'Don't you want to pay your student loans?' " her mother, Marian, recalls. One of her college roommates, Angela Acree, remembers being stunned. "I'm sure at Sidley she made more money than her parents ever made," says Acree. "It just seemed incredible at the time that she'd leave."
The move was not without its benefits. Michelle Obama's stint at the mayor's office gave her, and her husband, access to Chicago's political class. Combined with her own Southside roots — she went to high school with Santita Jackson, the Rev. Jesse Jackson's daughter — Michelle's job gave her husband entrée into the best political machine in Illinois, augmenting her ties to Jackson's powerful civil rights group, Rainbow Push.
"Michelle is a tremendous asset," says Habitat Inc. CEO Valerie Jarrett, a close friend of both Obamas and a key campaign adviser. As Daley's deputy chief of staff at the time, Jarrett hired Michelle to help troubleshoot for companies having problems navigating the city's bureaucracy. "Her being from Chicago, from the Southside of Chicago, was an asset to Barack in terms of enhancing his ties to the community."
But if Michelle helped give Obama an invaluable new base in Chicago politics, he helped her get back in touch with her home base. It was at the end of her first year as an associate at the law firm that she had been assigned to mentor Obama. In a now famous story, she at first refused to date him, feeling their work relationship would make a romance improper. But Obama's courtship helped her discover anew her childhood home on Chicago's Southside. Dates often took them to church basements and protests. "He could've gone to Wall Street; those offers were available to him. But instead Barack bussed these young mothers down to City Hall to help them find their voice and advocate for change," Michelle told an audience in Orangeburg, S.C., earlier this year.
As Obama gradually moved further away from grass-roots organizing and into business and politics, Michelle seemed to fill the vacuum. After 18 months, she left the mayor's office to head up the Chicago office of a new charity that was forming: Public Allies, which helps place young people at nonprofits.
"Everyone had said at the time that the best young organizer in Chicago was Barack," says Paul Schmitz, CEO of Public Allies. The group invited Obama to join their board. But when they started to look for someone to head up the Chicago office, Obama recommended his fiancée and resigned when the nonprofit began to court her in earnest. "At a time when the average age of our staff was 23, she was like drafting Brett Favre for the Packers," Schmitz says. "Michelle was 29 when we hired her. She had a law degree from Harvard, had worked for the mayor, for a corporate law firm. Comparatively, I'd worked a telemarketing group. Frankly, we were surprised that she wanted to do it."
During her nearly four years with the group, Michelle set fund-raising marks that remain records for the organization. In the process, she developed an unparalleled network of young activists. "She was a connector. They were a power couple. They helped each other along the way," says Craig Huffman, a graduate student from the Southside whom Michelle took under her wing and recommended for the charity's board. Huffman was drawn into Obama's orbit and, like dozens of Michelle's other protégés, volunteered for Barack Obama's campaigns. "Each ally was placed with a not-for-profit, about 20 to 30 a year. When you think of the number of people who got to know who Michelle was, and by extension Barack, that's a whole generation from all over Chicago," Huffman says.
Michelle went on to work as an associate dean of students at the University of Chicago, launching a community-service program for undergrads before moving to the university's medical school to become vice president of external relations, a fancy title for the person who helps the well-endowed school relate to its struggling Hyde Park neighborhood. She sponsored yet more volunteer programs, helped expand the hiring of local labor and launched a program that found ER patients clinics for long-term care.
Eventually, the money she had initially walked away from in corporate law did come. Her salary last year between the university and six boards approached $500,000. In addition to serving on the boards of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, Michelle also worked for Wal-Mart supplier Tree House Foods — a board from which she resigned when her husband criticized the retailing giant's labor practices. Asked in an interview about being the breadwinner of the family, Michelle is shocked by the notion. "Me? No! Barack had, like, four jobs, always," she laughs. "No, really. Barack's a hustler. I shouldn't say hustler, but he's a humper in terms of work."
The division of responsibilities in the Obama household, however, hasn't always been a laughing matter. In his second book, The Audacity of Hope, Obama talks about Michelle's rage at his ever increasing absence: "My wife's anger toward me seemed barely contained. 'You only think about yourself,' she would tell me. 'I never thought I'd have to raise a family alone.' "
Michelle may have envisioned giving her children the idyllic childhood that she'd had, but she had to know that Obama was far from a city pump operator with regular hours, nor did she show any real inclination to be a stay-at-home mom. But it is her connection to traditional middle-class values that drives her still to make an effort to put her children first and seemingly removes any desire to run for public office herself, though many have suggested it over the years. Her hint of nuclear-family nostalgia is also what helps make this very strong woman a much less threatening figure to the audiences who have throughout the campaign warmed to her homespun, sensitive speaking style. That down-to-earth appeal should be on full display Monday night, when she appears in her biggest venue yet. But that is only part of the real Michelle Obama. The country wouldn't get a two-for-one Bill and Hillary presidency if she were to become First Lady, but it would definitely get a lot more than many people realize.
And he is”The One?”the Bush Republicans are offering America?Not a brilliant candidate bearing smart policy proposals. Simply a McCain platter laden with desperation and smear. More old politics I hear?
When I borrowed the famous Australian author Bryce Courtenay’s book and movie title “The Power of One” (his superb works acknowledged, credited and finding new readers around the world as a result), to write in answer to a lady concerned about racial and security issues directed at Senator Obama early in the Primaries, little did I realise that the media and now the McCain campaign would appreciate the appropriateness of that title in describing the qualities attributed to Senator Obama in my response also titled “The Power of One”.
More recently sections of the America media and other outlets, have begun to use the abbreviated version, ”The One” when on occasions, referring to Obama. ( more often since his return from that highly publicised and successful overseas sojourn) . Although Maureen Dowd, on tour with Obama when writing for the New York Times, was possibly the first. Dowd’s clever use of literary sarcasm, contained no malice.
However, Ms Dowd, the Lady in Red, (hair that is) was soon copied by others, with other less intelligent ideas in mind.
Today, the McCain campaign hoping to capitalise politically by way of “satire”, released their amateurish attempt at sabotaging the Obama campaign, with their production of(”The One”), an online advertisement depicting Senator Obama as the so called “Messiah”. The advertisement reeks with colour. The colour of political jealousy - and it’s no more harmful than a really good laugh!
The McCain Campaign Advertisement “The One” (1min 14)
Perhaps John McCain should explain this “blasphemy” to members of the Christian faith to which he professes to belong, and whom he unashamedly courts for votes. Old politics again, ho hum.
While I appreciate the fact that the media and McCain’s people are finally waking up to the fact that Barack Obama is politically smart and intelligent ( is that such a bad thing after eight years of Bush?) surely it is time for the media to get back to concentrating on the pluses and minuses of the actual campaign proposals put forth by the candidates. Policies which need to be examined and explained. America cannot afford another dumb, corrupt President in the Oval Office.
It begs the question of American voters. Is is more important to be a loyal Republican, Democrat, or whatever else? Or is it a citizen’s duty to be a loyal American first, and vote for the person they actually believe is best qualified to deal with their country’s problems. In these troubled times, surely it is America’s good fortune in Obama, to have a candidate contesting this election, who given the opportunity and time, may prove to be - “The One”.
The alternative does not bear contemplating.John McCain placed 795th out of a graduating class of 800 at Annapolis. And he is”The One?”the Bush Republicans are offering America?Not a brilliant candidate bearing smart policy proposals. Simply a McCain platter laden with desperation and smear. More old politics I hear?.
As the author of the Obama profile “The Power of One” in support of Senator Barack Obama, I thank sections of the American media and the obvious unintelligence of the McCain campaign for the opportunity to draw further attention to Senator Obama’s qualifications for Office.
As we say in Australia - You little Ripper!
(A National expression of joy dating back to the first World War) perhaps even longer!
Go Obama - Yes we can
There will be much jostling for position in the chancelleries of Europe and the Middle East this week, as political types from London to Jerusalem compete for the hottest ticket of 2008: the chance to sit down with Barack Obama. David Cameron's team wasted no time in bellowing their delight that they had bagged a meeting with the Democrats' anointed leader, scheduled for July 26, announcing it before Downing Street had so much as opened itsmouth. The distracted newspaper reader could be forgiven for thinking that Obama is crossing the Atlantic solely to meet the leader of the Conservative party, leaving Gordon Brown out in the cold.
There'll be versions of that little drama played out everywhere the Democratic nominee goes on his grand tour, as local pols compete like kids in the playground to show that they're Obama's bestest best friend.
What of the rest of us? The US media is assuming that we'll be turning out in massive numbers, all but throwing street parades for the new American saviour. Setting the bar high, Obama's team is said to be encouraging parallels between the candidate's upcoming visit to Germany and John F Kennedy's legendary Ich Bin Ein Berliner address in 1963.
Obviously a warm reception can only be good for the Illinois senator. But maybe not that warm. After all, one of the hoariest Republican attack lines deployed against Democratic opponents is that they are vaguely foreign, somehow more comfortable abroad, and therefore likely to put America's interests second – after those of their elitist friends in Europe. Remember the Republican nickname for the Democratic nominee of 2004? They called him "Jean Cherie".
If Europeans really want to help Barack Obama next week they should repress their enthusiasm for him – and stay home. Ensure those crowds are thin and lethargic; maybe even offer the odd heckle, perhaps while brandishing a hostile placard. Let the travelling US press report that Obama is not so popular with foreigners after all: nothing will endear him more to the American public.
For those non-Americans finding it hard to feign coolness towards the Democratic candidate, let me offer two thoughts. First, as I discussed here, Obama is already tacking towards the centre, away from positions comfortable to Europeans and others.
Second, the Nixon to China syndrome works both ways: just as Republicans can afford to risk looking soft towards those deemed America's enemies, so Democrats have to bend over backwards to seem tough. All the pressure would be on a President Obama to prove he was not some patsy appeaser, perhaps by staging an early demonstration of American muscularity.
If it helps, bear all that in mind when Obama hits your neighbourhood. Remember, if you want him to win in November, do your duty – and do nothing
BERLIN, 20/07 - Le démocrate Barack Obama effectue la semaine prochaine sa première visite en tant que candidat à la Maison Blanche sur le Vieux continent où il suscite autant d`enthousiasme que d`espoirs.Si les Européens pouvaient voter à l`élection présidentielle américaine de novembre, leur choix se porterait à 52% en faveur du sénateur de l`Illinois contre 15% pour son rival républicain John McCain, selon un sondage publié à la mi-juin par le journal britannique Daily Telegraph.Ce sont les Italiens qui se montrent les plus enthousiastes à l`égard de M.Obama (70% voteraient pour lui) devant les Allemands (67%), les Français (65%) et les Britanniques (49%).Les Autrichiens seraient même 81% à vouloir voter M. Obama s`ils le pouvaient, contre à peine 6% pour John Mc Cain, d`après un autre sondage publié fin juin.Barack Obama, 46 ans, bénéficie aussi de la bienveillance d`une grande partie de la presse européenne qui voit en lui "un Kennedy de notre temps", comme l`écrivait en février l`éditorialiste britannique de renom William Rees-Mogg.Si la plupart des responsables politiques européens favorables à M. Obama évitent de lui témoigner publiquement leur soutien, certains ont du mal à retenir leur ferveur.Dans leur discours politique, le chef de la diplomatie allemande, le social-démocrate Frank-Walter Steinmeier, comme le leader de la gauche italienne Walter Veltroni ont adopté son mot d`ordre "Yes we can" (on peut le faire).En Espagne, le chef du gouvernement socialiste José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero est allé plus loin en affichant ouvertement sa sympathie envers le candidat démocrate. "Je l`aime bien, oui", a-t-il confié en juin à un journaliste du Financial Times qui lui demandait s`il souhaitait voir M. Obama à la Maison Blanche.En France, où les livres sur M. Obama, né à Honolulu d`une mère américaine et d`un père kényan, se vendent en abondance, la majorité des députés sont séduits par celui qui incarne, à leurs yeux, le changement après les huit ans au pouvoir du président républicain sortant George W. Bush.En Allemagne, où M. Obama entame sa tournée de campagne européenne jeudi avant de rejoindre la France et la Grande-Bretagne, la venue du candidat démocrate a déclenché des frictions au sein du gouvernement de coalition de la chancelière conservatrice Angela Merkel.Celle-ci avait exprimé des réserves quant au souhait de M. Obama de faire un discours à la porte de Brandebourg, symbole majeur de la réunification de la capitale, alors que le vice-chancelier Steinmeier avait salué le projet.A défaut de pouvoir s`exprimer à cet endroit comme l`avaient fait par exemple les présidents américains en exercice Ronald Reagan en 1987 ou Bill Clinton en 1994, Barack Obama devra se rabattre sur un autre haut-lieu de la capitale allemande, la "Colonne de la victoire". Le candidat démocrate sera reçu jeudi matin par Mme Merkel puis tôt dans l`après-midi par M. Steinmeier.
Un Barack Obama pourrait-il percer en France ?
La vie politique Française pourrait-elle connaître un phénomène comparable à celui de Barack Obama lors d'une présidentielle ? C'est très peu probable pour trois raisons structurantes qui distinguent la vie politique Française de la vie politique Américaine et qui attestent des blocages majeurs de la première.Le premier blocage réside dans l'organisation des partis politiques. Aux Etats-Unis, l'appareil est neutralisé dans l'attente du résultat de la primaire. En France, l'appareil est à la disposition d'un candidat. Il n'y a pas de véritable primaire. L'évolution supposerait que la Présidence d'un parti soit occupée par un chairman qui dissocie la vie du parti du cursus de l'un des candidats. Ce n'est pas du tout la culture Française.Le second blocage réside dans le mode de financement des campagnes. Sans parti politique, il n'y a pas de possibilité pour trouver un financement alternatif. Sans financement, il n'y pas de collaborateur, pas de structure donc pas de campagne.Le troisième blocage réside dans la culture des médias classiques. Progressivement, les médias sont devenus des supports d'opinion peu ouverts de fait à la diversité. Chaque média conforte son camp et son analyse. Pour toutes ces raisons, l'émergence d'un "candidat neuf" parait très difficile dans la vie politique française.
POLITIQUE – Il n’y avait pas un américain dans la salle. Pas beaucoup d’américanophiles non plus. Et pourtant, jeudi soir, ils étaient près de 200, venus de Lyon, Paris et Marseille, à se rassembler dans un restaurant-bar lyonnais pour une soirée de soutien… à Barack Obama. Parmi eux, beaucoup de militants de la diversité en France, de gauche, comme de droite, qui voient dans le candidat démocrate l’espoir d’un changement qu’ils peinent même à entrapercevoir dans leur propre pays…
« Barack Obama incarne cette capacité d’un pays à dépasser les origines, le poids de l’histoire. Il n’est pas arrivé là grâce à sa couleur de peau, mais par ses compétences », explique Karim Zeribi. L’élu socialiste marseillais se dit « fasciné » par le phénomène Obama depuis qu’il a assisté il y a deux mois à un de ses meetings à Philadelphie. Trouve « très bien » la mise en place des comités Obama franco-français comme celui qui les rassemble ce soir. Mais note que « c’est significatif d’un profond malaise ».
« En France, on est obligé de rêver de diversité par transfert. Quand on voit ce qui se passe au PS par exemple, on se dit qu’il est parfaitement impossible qu’un Obama émerge dans les cinq à venir. Ce n’est pas propre aux socialistes, les élites françaises en général sont prisonnières de la reproduction sociale. Alors, forcément, quelqu’un qui s’impose comme candidat aux présidentielles en quelques années, ça fait rêver », analyse Zéribi.
Lui, ne voit pas dans Obama un « symbôle de la diversité ». « Rachida Dati est un symbôle. Obama, non. Personne ne l’a « autorisé » à être là où il est. Il y est allé tout seul ». Et de prévenir les militants de la diversité « à la française ». « Je ne veux pas un jour voter pour un candidat seulement parce qu’il est noir ou maghrébin. Nous devons être fiers de nos origines, mais il faut transcender nos origines, couper le lien naturel. Nous ne pouvons pas sans cesse regarder vers le passé et ne porter que le poids de l’histoire, de l’esclavage, de notre militantisme ».
Lors de cette soirée, chacun semblait transférer ses propres attentes politique et sociétales dans la figure du candidat démocrate américain. Patrice Schoendorff, président du comité lyonnais de Barack Obama, perçoit dans l’ascension d’Obama l’univers qu’offre l’Amérique. Par opposition aux conservatismes de la société française. Ce déçu de la gauche, note avec amertume qu’il y a là « beaucoup d’anciens de la marche des Beurs en 1981 ». « Et aucun responsable socialiste ». Il remarque que la nouvelle génération issue de la diversité se tourne de plus en plus vers les pays anglo-saxons. Fabienne Levy, élue radicale (de droite) à la région Rhône-Alpes, voit elle un « nouveau Kennedy » en Obama.
Alice Géraud
PHOTO : Roger Tonye
John Wildermuth, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Obama opposes marriage ban (7/01)
Mormons urged to back November initiative (6/25)
Fight to remove issue off ballot (6/21)
Initiative to ban gay marriage on Nov. ballot (6/03)
Full Coverage
(07-01) 19:35 PDT -- Gay rights moved to the forefront of the presidential campaign Tuesday after Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's announcement that he opposes a November ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage in California.
In a letter to San Francisco's Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Democratic Club, the presumptive presidential nominee said he opposed "the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution" and similar efforts in other states.
Obama's position on Proposition 8 was announced at a club event Sunday after a move by Arizona Sen. John McCain, the expected GOP standard-bearer in November, who last week told officials of Protect Marriage, a coalition that gathered 1.1 million signatures for the California measure, that he backs their efforts "to recognize marriage as a unique institution between a man and a woman."
For both campaigns, the decision to get involved in the same-sex marriage debate carries political risks.
California is one of three states with same-sex marriage bans on the November ballot. While the state is seen as Obama country, and Arizona is McCain's home state, Florida, the third state seeking to limit marriage to a man and a woman, is a swing state that will be a major prize in the November election.
Obama is skating gingerly past his previous position on the issue.
The Illinois senator has said repeatedly that he believes marriage should be only between man and a woman. When the California Supreme Court overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage in May, Obama released a carefully nuanced statement saying he respected the court's decision, believed states should make their own decisions on marriage and "will continue to fight for civil unions as president."
But civil unions, gay activists argue, aren't the same as marriage, and they say his earlier stance would put Obama on the wrong side of what's increasingly seen as a civil rights issue.
Groups opposing Prop. 8, which would amend the state Constitution to say that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California," were excited to have Obama on their side and more than willing to overlook his mixed record on the same-sex marriage issue.
"It's great to see Sen. Obama's statement, which is consistent with what he has said in the past about allowing each state to make its own decision," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality for All, which is heading the Prop. 8 opposition. "Is it ideal that he doesn't support same-sex marriage? No. But it's important when political leaders say gay and lesbian couples should be treated equally."
Still, the Obama campaign didn't go out of its way to announce the senator's position on a controversial California ballot measure that will have repercussions across the nation. Instead of a splashy public endorsement ceremony, complete with beaming supporters of same-sex marriage, Obama announced his support midway in his letter, which was read at the club's annual breakfast.
That didn't bother Julius Turman, co-chairman of the club.
"I was thrilled to see the senator step up to the plate and say how he feels about discrimination," he said. And while Obama might personally oppose same-sex marriage, Turman said the candidate "is well on the way to being educated."
But Prop. 8 supporters accused Obama of trying to have it both ways by coming out publicly against same-sex marriage, but opposing any efforts to ban those unions.
"His position makes very little sense," said Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, California. "If he's opposed (to same-sex marriage), he should just say so. Instead, he's trying to appease the wealthy elite who support gay marriage."
It's no surprise to see McCain on the side of the same-sex marriage ban. While he opposed a GOP-backed federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in 2004, he supported a failed 2006 Arizona initiative that would have blocked domestic partnerships as well as same-sex marriages.
Both Obama and McCain have called for individual states to decide how to handle same-sex marriage, and the November elections will show where voters in those three states stand.
Early polls show that while the Prop. 8 race is likely to be a close contest in California, many of the young and liberal voters who back Obama are strongly opposed to the same-sex marriage ban. But those groups of voters don't have nearly as much clout elsewhere in the nation. A CBS poll taken early in June showed that only about 30 percent of American voters favored legalizing marriage for same-sex couples.
Only one of the more than two dozen state ballot measures banning same-sex marriage has ever lost, and that was the 2006 Arizona measure that also would have eliminated domestic partner benefits in the state.
But while the same-sex marriage question will come up during the fall campaign, experts don't believe it will have the same effect as it did in 2004, when politicians like California Sen. Dianne Feinstein suggested that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's open door to same-sex marriage might have cost Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry the presidency.
Nationwide, the country's economic woes and the war in Iraq are likely to play much more of a role than same-sex marriage in the November election, said Bruce Cain, a UC Berkeley political science professor.
"Obama's position (on same-sex marriage) can be used against him in a few states, like Ohio and Pennsylvania," Cain said. "But same-sex marriage is unlikely to have anything like the impact it did in 2004 since issues like the economy and the war will provide him with a lot more cover than Kerry had."
Text of measures to amend state constitutions:
California: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
Arizona: "Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state."
Florida: "Inasmuch as a marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage ... shall be valid."
E-mail John Wildermuth at jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
he Associated Press - 21/06/08 à 20:27:17 - 133 mots
Le candidat démocrate à l'élection présidentielle américaine Barack Obama compte une avance de 15 points sur son rival républicain John McCain, selon un sondage du magazine "Newsweek" rendu public samedi.
Cette enquête, réalisée les 18 et 19 juin auprès d'un échantillon représentatif national de 1.010 personnes en âge de voter, Barack Obama crédite Obama de 51% des intentions de vote, contre 36% à McCain. La marge d'erreur est de plus ou moins quatre points.
Le précédent sondage "Newsweek" réalisé en mai dernier donnait les deux hommes à égalité avec 46% d'intentions de vote chacun. Toutefois, Barack Obama était encore en compétition avec Hillary Clinton pour l'investiture démocrate. AP
tl/dn
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
To the Editor:
Re “For Blacks in France, Obama’s Rise Is Reason to Rejoice, and to Hope” (Arts pages, June 17):
When I taught English in France many years ago, I learned that the French have a different sense of identity than Americans do. In the United States we are comfortable with the idea that multiple allegiances can coexist within one person. In France one of my colleagues asked me which I was first, an American or a Jew. Both at once, I answered.
What is disconcerting for the French about “négritude” is that it suggests that people of color have several identities. Immigrants in France from various parts of the francophone world, from Africa to the Caribbean, would ordinarily find little in common. The fact of their being black, however, gives them common experiences of racism, and they are drawn to négritude, a philosophy that includes but also transcends nationality.
Blacks in France are French, but they are of African descent as well. Both at once, and therefore difficult to understand.
Hedy KalikoffHastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., June 17, 2008
The writer was an adjunct professor of African and Caribbean literature at Pace University and N.Y.U.
MR Obama is stirring up high hopes among black in France!
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/arts/17abroad.html?8dpc
Barack Obama, candidat global ? "L'"obamania" est devenue un phénomène planétaire d'une ampleur peut-être plus grande que celle de la "dianamania"", a écrit Timothy Garton Ash, professeur d'études européennes à Oxford. C'est dire.
Vu de l'étranger, l'homme séduit. D'abord, le sénateur de l'Illinois se distingue par son opposition résolue à la guerre en Irak. M. Obama l'a répété : une fois élu, il retirera les troupes américaines. Il marque les consciences collectives en nourrissant l'idée d'un véritable changement au Moyen-Orient.
Ensuite, ses origines familiales et son parcours, de sa naissance à l'âge adulte, renvoient l'image d'un personnage politique nouveau. C'est un Américain du tiers-monde, un candidat avec une relation personnelle et intime avec d'autres continents. Multiracial, M. Obama - père kényan et mère américaine, né à Hawaï, élevé en Indonésie et diplômé de Harvard - possède un parcours inhabituel qui le rend apte à transcender les barrières culturelles. "Chacun sent chez Obama que l'expérience vécue, le tempérament et les idées ne font qu'un", souligne le New York Times Magazine. N'a-t-il pas dit que le principe fondamental de sa vision internationale est que "la sécurité du peuple américain est inextricablement liée à la sécurité de tous les peuples" ?
D'après une enquête du Pew Research Center réalisée dans vingt-quatre pays et publiée le 12 juin, la candidature de Barack Obama à la présidentielle américaine suscite non seulement de grands espoirs, mais améliore l'image des Etats-Unis dans le monde. Avec lui, l'élection du 4 novembre est perçue un peu partout comme une occasion de tourner la page des années Bush. Comme si M. Obama était capable de remettre un peu d'ordre sur cette planète tourmentée depuis les attaques du 11-Septembre et réconcilier les Etats-Unis avec le reste du monde.
Selon ce sondage, M. Obama inspire confiance et caracole en tête face à son rival M. McCain dans pratiquement tous les pays. Grand favori des européens (84 % des Français lui accorderaient leur vote, 82 % des Allemands, 74 % des Anglais, 72 % des Espagnols), il est également plébiscité en Australie, au Japon, au Brésil, ou encore en Corée du Sud. Au Kenya, un vrai culte est voué "au fils de la nation" comme l'appelle la presse et de nombreux pays africains estiment, comme Le Soleil de Dakar que sa victoire serait "une revanche sur l'histoire".
Certaines déclarations de M. Obama ont pu étonner ou susciter de vives critiques. Des commentateurs voient en lui un candidat difficile à cerner, trop jeune ou manquant d'expérience. Toutefois, en cinq mois de campagne, il a su se forger une stature d'homme d'Etat avec une capacité instinctive à bâtir des ponts et a créer des relations nouvelles. En Israël, par exemple, alors que la majorité de l'opinion publique affichait ouvertement une préférence pour M. McCain, l'engagement et le ton de M. Obama lors de son passage à l'Aipac (American Israël Public Affairs Council), le 4 juin, a surpris. L'alignement du candidat démocrate sur les positions de l'administration Bush concernant le statut de Jérusalem qui doit, selon M. Obama, rester la capitale "unifiée et indivisible" d'Israël a fait reculer les craintes que pourrait provoquer son élection. Ehoud Olmert, premier ministre israélien, s'est même déclaré "impressionné".
Dans le camp palestinien et au sein du monde arabe, les propos de M. Obama ont, d'abord jeté la consternation d'autant qu'ils ont été prononcés par un candidat d'origine musulmane. Certains chroniqueurs arabes ont toutefois décidé de prendre du recul. Dans son billet hebdomadaire publié par le quotidien libanais Al-Safir, l'écrivain libanais Abbas Beïdoune, peu suspect de sympathies pro américaines, a ainsi épinglé ceux qui ont délibérément occulté la singularité du cas Obama, "un homme de race noir et fils d'un musulman". Editorialiste au quotidien saoudien Al-Hayat, Mohammed Salah s'est, lui, interrogé : "Etions-nous en droit de nous attendre à des déclarations différentes d'un candidat à la présidence américaine devant la plus puissante association américaine de soutien à Israël dont il sollicitait le soutien ?"
Dans le cas de Cuba, les déclarations de M. Obama sont également révélateurs de sa capacité à jouer sur différents tableaux à la fois. Lors de son discours de Miami, le 23 mai, dans lequel il a rappelé vouloir dialoguer avec le président Raul Castro et lever les restrictions de voyage, "Obama a proposé des initiatives positives, visant à faciliter les contacts et l'aide économique entre les familles cubaines divisées des deux côtés du détroit de Floride", a estimé Miriam Leiva, une des fondatrices des Dames en blanc, l'association des épouses de prisonniers politiques cubains. Plus étonnant, Fidel Castro partage l'opinion des dissidents : M. Obama est "sans aucun doute le candidat le plus avancé du point de vue social et humain", a écrit l'ancien président cubain le 26 mai.
Les médias russes misent eux aussi en nombre sur la victoire de Barack Obama, "la chance noire de l'Amérique" selon le quotidien Vremia Novosteï du 5 juin. La veille, la radio Echo de Moscou recueillait des impressions sur M. Obama. "Il est frais, pur, jeune et n'a aucun lien avec le complexe militaro-industriel ou le lobby américain du pétrole", s'est réjouit le politicien ultranationaliste Vladimir Jirinovski, le qualifiant de "jeune Gorbatchev de l'Amérique".
En revanche, le Canada et le Mexique, deux pays frontaliers des Etats-Unis s'inquiètent, eux, du vent de protectionnisme qui souffle chez les démocrates, aux Etats-Unis. Au Mexique, certains secteurs libéraux ont peu apprécié les déclarations d'Obama critiquant l'Alena, l'Accord de libre-échange entre le Canada, le Mexique et les Etats-Unis, "en usant les vieux prétextes de la protection de l'environnement et de la défense des droits de l'homme", comme le souligne Antonio Rosas-Landa, dans El Universal. A Ottawa, le sénateur de l'Illinois a été accusé de ne pas prendre la question de l'Alena au sérieux. Son conseiller économique Austan Goolsbee, aurait assuré aux Canadiens que sa position n'était qu'une rhétorique de campagne pour calmer les craintes des "cols bleus" américains. M. Obama ne laisse personne indifférent. Le président iranien Mahmoud Ahmadinejad s'est inquiété dans un entretien à El Pais, le 5 mars, disant qu'une victoire de M. Obama était impossible "à cause des forces cachées qui sévissent aux États-Unis". Même le dirigeant libyen Mouammar Kadhafi a mis en garde le candidat démocrate, mercredi 11 juin : "Nous lui demandons d'être fier de lui en tant que Noir et d'être conscient que toute l'Afrique est derrière lui, parce que s'il ne se débarrasse pas de ce complexe d'infériorité, sa politique étrangère sera pire que celle des Blancs qui l'auront précédé". Obama une révolution ?
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Français, Yes you can !Le New York Times consacre un papier à la découverte de l’Amérique de Barack Obama par trois ”Young French Muslims”, à l’invitation du département d’Etat (signe des temps: à côté des programmes “Young leaders”, il y a maintenant ”Young Muslims”).
La journaliste Katrin Bennhold a interrogé Karim Zeribi (”a policitician in Marseille”), Mohamed Hamidi (”a well-known blogger”) et Ali Zahi (”a mayoral aide” in Clichy-sous-Bois), après leur séjour américain.
Les trois invités disent avoir appris autant sur la France et ses préjugés que sur l’Amérique (notamment quand on les a soupçonnés à leur retour de participer aux ignobles tentatives d’infiltration des banlieues par la CIA…) Les trois Young Muslims (YM) estiment que la presse est parano (et anti-YM).- “Maybe they are afraid of a French Barack Obama”, a dit Ali Zahi.
Effet du pragmatisme américain: le département d’Etat de George Bush “vend” sans états d’âme le rêve américain de Barack Obama. Pendant toutes les primaires, il a invité des journalistes du Mali, du Niger, d’Afrique du Sud, d’Europe..
Reste la question: les voyages d’études de trois semaines tous frais payés dans toute l’Amérique, notamment ceux de l’International Visitor Program (dont ont bénéficié nombre d’hommes politiques ou de journalistes) sont-ils “gratuits” ? Qu’en attendent les Américains ?Probablement pas grand chose. Mais il suffit de regarder dans les Archives du département d’Etat pour constater que rien ne s’oublie. Les diplomates américains continuent à cultiver ces contacts. Et lorsqu’ils font le récit de leurs conversations dans leurs dépêches diplomatiques, ils n’oublient pas de mentionner s’ils ont bénéficié de bourses ou pas.
