Pope mesmerises, Brown struggles

Change is in the air across the Atlantic


Change is the catch word in the US today, be it in the presidential campaign or in the US financial and social outlook and it manifested itself in a crystal clear way in two transatlantic visits last week.

German-born Pope Benedict XVI became the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church to walk into New York’s East synagogue, a Jewish place of worship dating back more than a century and designed in Byzantine style.

The Pope was welcomed by Rabbi Arthur Schneier, an Austrian-born Jew. I had the fortunate coincidence of meeting Schneier at a meeting last year at the Council of Europe, Strasbourg where he had told me the moving story of losing most of his family in the Holocaust.

Later, speaking to diplomats from 192 countries at the United Nations, the Pope endorsed stronger “collective” action to protect human rights, preserve the environment and end humanitarian crises.

Hinting at different flashpoints and ongoing battles around the globe, Benedict, representing a sixth of the world’s population, cautioned that intrusion into any country’s internal affairs or an international conflict must only follow a search for “even the faintest sign of dialogue or desire for reconciliation.”

Earlier, Pope Benedict XVI, the leader of millions of Catholics around the world, got a red carpet welcome as he was received at the airport by President George W. Bush himself along with thousands of Americans.

No president in American history has picked up a visiting leader from the airport before and it also marked President Bush’s fifth meeting with two successive popes, a record again for any US president.

Bush explained the reason for the Pope’s special status, “One, he speaks for millions. Two, he doesn’t come as a politician; he comes as a man of faith.”

One quick look at the front pages, the TV channels of different media outlets and even talking to the common person on the street, it became apparent that the other visitor, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown failed miserably to get any attention in the US media as limelight was hogged by the first visit of a Pope to the White House in almost 30 years.

As the British media will make one believe that Brown got overshadowed by the Pope’s visit, a walk down the recent past points to more than that. Brown was flying back to United Kingdom as little known on the New Continent as he was when he flew across the Atlantic.

The emergence of French and German leaders, on behalf of the European Union, on the horizon of the transatlantic diplomatic canvas has taken the shine off the old “special relationship,” which Brown mentioned during his trip.

During the John F. Kennedy memorial lecture in Boston, Brown told his audience, “I am pleased that over the past half century the special relationship between America and Britain which John Kennedy prized remains strong and enduring - so firmly rooted in our common history, our shared values and in the hearts and minds of our people that no power on earth can drive us apart,” concluding with a note, “For the first time in human history we have the opportunity to come together around a global covenant, to reframe the international architecture and build the truly global society.”

Although US administration has openly supported Brown’s intentions to withdraw from Iraq, political pundits highlight subtle euphoria generated in Washington by French decision to supplement troops in Afghanistan.

“No question the relationship is changing for the better and President Sarkozy gets a lot of credit for that,” President George W. Bush was quoted as saying during Sarkozy’s visit.

On the other hand, Germany is slowly but steadily cementing ties with the US.

Speaking at the “Conference on Germany in the Modern World” at Harvard University, April 12, 2008, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs recalled “two great transatlantic speeches,” the famous speech by George Marshall some 60 years ago in which he announced the plan that became a hallmark of American statecraft” and a second speech “by Chancellor Willy Brandt,” in Harvard in 1972 “to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Marshall Plan and establish the German Marshall Fund of the United States.”

Stressing the relationship of US-EU and not US-UK as highlighted by British premier Brown, the German minister Steinmeier told his audience, “For the past 60 years the transatlantic relationship has been the world’s transformative partnership. America’s relationship with Europe - more than with any other part of the world - enables both of us to achieve goals that neither of us could achieve alone.”

Hailing American leadership, the German leader candidly defined the need for “new concepts, a revitalised alliance and particularly renewed American leadership in the world.” Together, the EU and the US account for nearly 37 percent of global trade in goods and 45 percent in services with the flow of transatlantic trade and investments being the largest in the world and hovering around a billion US dollars everyday.

Obama: Path to Change

Americans at the crossroads of history to lead by example


American presidential elections are not only about money, power and prestige within the world’s most vibrant democracy, but also a guiding light to the believers of democratic principles and human rights followers. In 2008, the world is watching the presidential campaign in the melting pot of civilisations and beaconing land of opportunities for the last centuries, and there is one man, Barack Obama, who has caught the attention like never before in the recent past.

Watching former presidential candidate Bill Richardson endorse his fellow Democratic frontrunner Obama brought out many points why Obama has generated so much interest in the Old Continent and other parts of the world.

Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, symbolises the Hispanic vox populi and was being wooed openly by dynastic presidential runner Hillary Clinton and her husband, the former president, Bill Clinton.

Putting on back burner his personal bonds with his friends the Clintons, and an official relationship with former president Clinton under whom he served as UN ambassador and energy secretary, Richardson was candid in his appeal to the voters while endorsing Obama.

With a flavour of spiritualism sprinkled over pragmatic choice of words, Richardson spoke with his heart and soul about Obama. “There’s something special about this guy… I’ve been trying to figure it out, but it’s very good.” “Your candidacy is a oncein- a-lifetime opportunity for our nation and you are a once in a lifetime leader,” he told Obama.

The much-acclaimed Obama speech on the need for unity in the diversified spectrum of Americans got special mention from Richardson, who himself is of Hispanic origin, in his decision to endorse Obama, who is the son of a “father from Kenya” and “mother from Kansas.”

“I’ve been troubled by the demonisation of immigrants, specifically Hispanics, by too many in this country,” Richardson said. Obama’s “words are one of a courageous, thoughtful leader who understands that a house divided against itself cannot stand.”

“Senator Barack Obama addressed the issue of race with the eloquence and sincerity and decency and optimism we have come to expect of him. “He did not seek to evade tough issues or to soothe us with comforting half-truths. Rather, he inspired us by reminding us of the awesome potential residing in our own responsibility,” he said.

He added: “Senator Obama could have given a safer speech. He is, after all, well ahead in the delegate count for our party’s nomination.” Obama earlier had called for the country to rise above its racial divisions in a speech prompted by the controversy over his former pastor and spiritual advisor Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr’s incendiary comments about race in sermons.

Obama said, “But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than 20 years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor.”

Striking a chord with his supporters, Obama explained in detail, “I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy … absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed. But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country.”

Not only condemning the remarks, but also asking Americans to get together, Obama added, “As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially-charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.”

Going down memory lane to highlight the struggle for freedom and equality in the American history, Obama said, “And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every colour and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States.” “What would be needed... to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time,” Obama said.

The voters in the United States of America this year are facing this choice of our time to deliver with their ballot a change in the ongoing dynastic repetition in the US presidential race.

Anyone eligible to vote 32 years ago (or nearly 56 years of age today) in 1976 would have had the fortune to see a presidential ballot without a Bush or a Clinton name on it as, after that, no single ballot paper has escaped a Bush or a Clinton. That says a lot about the dynastic rulers in the democracy of US.

On the other hand, Richardson hinted at an honourable and unselfish move to drop out of the race for Clinton saying, “I’m not going to advise any other candidate when to get in and out of the race.”

Mincing no words to make it clearer, the governor added, “Senator Clinton has a right to stay in the race, but eventually we don’t want to go into the Democratic convention bloodied. This was another reason for my getting in and endorsing, the need to perhaps send a message that we need unity.”

“It is time ... for Democrats to stop fighting amongst ourselves and to prepare for the tough fight we will face against John McCain in the fall,” Richardson said at a rally with Obama in Portland, Oregon.

Last but not least, Richardson reflected on a minor detail from their sitting together during a presidential debate. “I had just been asked a question - I don’t remember which one - and Obama was sitting right next to me. Then the moderator went across the room, I think to Chris Dodd, so I thought I was home free for a while. I wasn’t going to listen to the next question. I was about to say something to Obama when the moderator turned to me and said, ‘So, Gov. Richardson, what do you think of that?’ But I wasn’t paying any attention! I was about to say, ‘Could you repeat the question? I wasn’t listening.’ But I wasn’t about to say I wasn’t listening. I looked at Obama. I was just horrified. And Obama whispered, ‘Katrina. Katrina.’ The question was on Katrina! So I said, ‘On Katrina, my policy . . .’ Obama could have just thrown me under the bus. So I said, ‘Obama that was good of you to do that.’”