UN PRESIDENT ED
One more security cavalcade, one more red carpet, one more round of golf – and one more chance to show his human decency.
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On a clear summer’s day in Berlin’s Tiergarten park, a political outsider stepped out in front of 200,000 roaring Germans. Positioned on a stage in front of a 19th century war monument, he told the unlikely tale of his journey to that stage.
Abandoned by his father. Raised variously by a single mother, a stepfather and his grandparents in multiple cities, states, and countries. Once a community organiser, then a professor, now a politician.
He was there to address Germany and the world. But his ultimate goal was to convince Americans back home that he was a credible candidate for the presidency of the United States of America.
It was July, 10 years ago. The candidate was Barack Obama.
And from that Berlin stage, he set out a world view that would follow him into the Oval Office. Multilateralism and the importance of the international order. Immigrants as an indelible part of the American dream. America’s responsibility to be a beacon of good and right in the world. An evolving, improving America, that ever looks out, and looks forward.
This week, Obama – who in a decade transformed from young, promising, gangly Senator into a Nobel Prize-winning two-term President – will finally set foot on New Zealand soil. And Kiwis (some admittedly by virtue of a private speaking engagement) will learn what it’s like to have Obama around.
His three-day visit will reportedly include a meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and a speaking engagement with young community organisers and activists sponsored by the US-NZ Council. Much of the three-day trip is under wraps due to security concerns.
I expect you’ll find him still gangly after all these years. Also articulate and charming. And knowledgeable and selfdeprecating.
It’s going to be a bit like Taylor Swift showing up in Godzone. And not just because of the throngs of security and the multiple red carpets.
In 2008 I made the trek to New Hampshire during primary season to see what all the Obama-mania was about. The trip from Boston on a cold, gloomy winter afternoon took about two hours. Busy highways eventually led to quiet country roads.
When I arrived to the school where Obama was to speak, there were cars everywhere. The parking lot was full, and cars lined the streets into the school, askew on snowbanks left by heavy snowfall in the days prior.
I trudged through the snow from my distant parking spot, only to find the auditorium was full, and that I’d be watching the candidate on closed circuit TV from the adjacent school cafeteria.
Sitting on bleachers placed on the scuffed linoleum, bathed in fluorescent light, my fellow travellers and I watched Obama speak on small screens. The crowd’s frequent cheering thundered into our room from the auditorium next door.
After he finished speaking, Obama appeared in the cafeteria for a few moments. He smiled, waved, then disappeared back into a labyrinth of corridors and left the school grounds. I had ventured north to answer the question, is he a politician or a rock star? I left thinking he was a bit of both, but far more rock star than any politician I’d ever seen.
For a couple of days, New Zealand, you’ll step into my shoes. Based on my eight years with Obama at the helm of the free world, this is what you’ll see.
In the serious moments, Obama was thoughtful and empathetic. And government under him was quiet and effective. We learned during the Obama years that the
best kind of government is the government that runs in the background. Like a very expensive car, with a huge engine, that takes you everywhere you need to go, safely and quickly, without you really having to think about it.
A kind of government where scandal and mayhem do not distract from the business of governing on a daily or hourly basis. A kind of government that uses its resources to think about and plan carefully the future – a future individuals and corporations are generally too selfish and short-sighted to think about: Inequality. AI. The decline of work.
This is not to say that the Obama years were without scandal. The Department of Justice spied on journalists in its quest to stop leaks. The Inland Revenue Service used some questionable methods to prevent political organisations from receiving tax-exempt status. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) released some 2000 weapons into the hands of drug cartels but neglected to track them so the ATF could prosecute the drug dealers (as had been the plan). National security contractor Edward Snowden obtained, then spilled, our secrets, including sensitive State Department cables that endangered American lives.
And there was the golf. Obama played 333 rounds during his eight-year presidency. And he got a hard time for it. It seemed excessive to many.
But his successor has played more than 100 times in 14 months, and is on track for 650 rounds – if he makes it to eight years.
One person likely glad of Obama’s golf proficiency will be former prime minister John Key, who is said to be joining Obama for a round at one of New Zealand’s many breathtaking courses.
In his eight years as president, Obama also turned selfdeprecation into an art form.
In ‘‘Couch Commander,’’ a video produced for his last White House Correspondents’ dinner (an annual fete/roast of the president and the press), Obama poked fun at the birther conspiracy over his long-form birth certificate, his foreign-sounding middle name, his smoking habit, his love (sadly without equivalent skill) of basketball, and his affinity for high-waisted ‘‘mom jeans’’.
And he even made fun of the golf, and the media’s obsession with it.
The closing scene features CNN stalwart Gloria Borger commenting on Obama’s last round of golf as President. Turning to CNN colleague Wolf Blitzer, she deadpanned, ‘‘I can’t think of a reason to care, Wolf, and believe me, I’ve tried.’’
Of course, he was not universally beloved while in office. Senior Republicans met on the night of his inauguration to plan total and complete resistance to his agenda. They mightily succeeded, particularly in blocking a Supreme Court nomination that would have contributed mightily to his progressive legacy.
Unmet promises on Obamacare and an expensive stimulus package following the great recession saw a massive swing back towards Republicans in subsequent congressional elections.
That said, Obama’s best qualities and promises are those that have endured in the American memory. These days, Obama is remembered fondly by most Americans. He trails only Kennedy, Reagan and George H.W. Bush in retrospective job approval ratings.
Here in New York City, we are recovering from three snowy and cold nor’easters in 10 days. Chicago, Obama’s home town, will catch some of the storm as he basks this week in the last days of the fading New Zealand summer.
As this cold snap reminds me of that adventure to New Hampshire so many years ago, I look back on the Obama years with a measure of grief. Because some of his most important decisions rested on executive orders which are easily undone by his successor. But I also look back with happiness. Because he was decent.
I would never have worried about my 3-year-old daughter watching and learning from him, whether from a stage in Berlin, or New Hampshire, or New Zealand. I’d be glad to have her there.
Regardless of whether she thought he was a rock star or a politician.