[Stuff, New
Zealand]
Le Monde, France
America's Best PR: the Vitality of its Democracy
"Retribution for the country's
racist past, testimony to its inimitable capacity to renew itself, Obama’s
assumption of the presidency is a proof of the vitality of American democracy. …
This election will change the image of America abroad even more than the image
Americans have of themselves."
EDITORIAL
Translated By L. McKenzie Zeiss
January 22, 2009
France
- Le Monde - Original Article (French)
Americans weren't mistaken. On
Tuesday, January 20th, they lived though a historic moment. It was one of those
moments that transforms the life of a nation, not that it wipes away the past, but it
brings forward a different future. Throughout the day, Barack Obama natural grace
and elegance did nothing to trivialize the entry of an African-American into
the White House.
The September 11, 2001
attacks were distant, as was the fear that for years, was conjured and maintained
for partisan purposes by he who, this very same Tuesday, left the presidency. Americans
celebrated a newfound confidence. This burst out in public as some two million
people came together in Washington, on the Mall, that immense esplanade bordered
by the great institutions of the American Republic, from the White House to
Congress, passing by the Supreme Court.
Recompense for the
country's racist past, testimony to its inimitable capacity to renew itself,
Obama’s assumption of the presidency is a proof of the vitality of American
democracy. This election will change the image of America abroad even more than
the image Americans have of themselves. This cannot be without consequence
after years of the brutal and arrogant ignorance of the world that we have
observed. Change is already there, in the first act of President Obama: the
suspension of judicial procedures at Guantanamo.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
And then there were words of the
new president on Tuesday, which confirmed the message of his campaign. What is
so seductive is that blending, hardly French, for recalibrating what political
action can do. It may do quite a lot, and Obama intends to resolve some the
worst ills of American society (notably, in matters of education and healthcare).
But it cannot do everything, and Obama says this too, refusing to promote the
illusionism of "all we need to do," and restoring a sense of individual
responsibility. He has sized up the disaster which he has inherited: two wars,
the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a recession the likes of which the
country hasn't seen in eighty years. But he will repeat: reform takes time; he
cannot work miracles; he isn't omnipotent.
Americans appreciate him, giving him an approval rating of nearly 80 percent.
He will need it.
CLICK HERE FOR FRENCH
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
January 26, 3:06am]
