As revolutionary as the change that a President Barack Obama would bring, Thomas Klau of Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland thinks that his wife Michelle as first lady would herald an even greater revolution – but not the type that involves a Kalashnikov slung over her shoulder.
Klau writes that throughout American history, “As in a monarchy, the wife of America’s head of state is indisputably and for all, the First Lady of Society. Her tastes, her choice of curtains, or the style of her clothing are all legitimate topics of reporting for the nation’s most prestigious newspapers.”
Given this unusual truism of the American system, Klau goes on to write:
“All of this reflects what an enormous breakthrough that the entry into the White House of Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic candidate Barack Obama, would be. In some respects, she would represent an even greater revolution than the parallel entry into office of her husband. … One suspects that she won’t be one to forget that the celebrity and success of rare social achievers like TV genius Oprah Winfrey, Secretary of State Rice and her predecessor in office Colin Powell – conceal, more than reveal, the reality that a majority of Black Americans experience – and the history that they have inherited.”
“For a considerable portion of the White majority, when Michelle Obama declared several months ago that for the first time she was proud of her country, it was an offence against the first commandment of unconditional American patriotism. … But the Black minority knows what Michelle Obama meant. Blacks are embittered and scoff at conservatives – a mortal sin against the second commandment of unconditional American patriotism. From a European point of view, this apparent bitterness seems like a much clearer perception of the realities in the country.”
By Thomas Klau*
Translated by Julian Jacob
July 10, 2008
Germany – Financial Times Deutschland – Original Article (German)
A President Barack Obama would be regarded as evidence of a turning point in the United States. However, an even greater breakthrough would be a First Lady Michelle Obama.
As the United States was born, for heads of state the global norm was kings or queens, not presidents; so it was that in the early months of the republic there was a serious debate about whether the president, for the purposes of symbolic equality, should be addressed as “Majesty.” And it wasn’t only eccentrics or those who were nostalgic for monarchy who pleaded for this. The second U.S. President, the great founding father John Adams, was one of the proponents of this title, which sounds so peculiar to us today.
If one wants to understand the USA and its political system, it’s worth directing one’s attention to these early years. The United States is a young country. Just one hundred and twenty years ago, European settlers or their descendants were still fighting battles of conquest against the so-called natives. But at the same time, it’s the oldest great republic on this planet – one of the very few countries where government institutions can look back over a 200-year history.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the U.S. election.
Founder and Managing Editor of Worldmeets.US