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meIn a true coincidence, it cannot be that, at the same time that Donald Trump was ousted from office, his predecessor, Barack Obama, again pushed for more publicity. The first part of his memoirs was published just in time for the elections. A few days earlier, supporters were excited about Obama’s brief appearance at a sports hall. The passionate basketball player threw a three-point shot to the basket (“without touching the hoop”, as he was loudly pleased afterwards), struck, veered slightly to the right in the jump, danced out of the picture with a smile and delighted the audience on social media.
Philipp krohn
Business writer, head of “People and companies”.
The way Obama is loved for his style, charisma, and subtle irony of his own sometimes has irrational traits. They are in stark contrast to the self-centered, often goofy appearance of former businessman Trump. Obama was a deliberative and exceptionally thoughtful president, as he demonstrated Thursday night in an interview with Markus Lanz on ZDF.
Unlike his sometimes emotionally exaggerated supporters, he always viewed the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded very early, as a burden. It has also often problematized its effect of inducing panic on people in the Midwest with less education, decency, etiquette, and understanding for women and minorities. But sometimes fans seem to forget that Obama is also a master of staging. Obama re-weighed many of his political decisions in the interview.
Above all, Lanz wants to work on the personal dimension.
Lanz’s questions were targeted, and that’s perfectly fine for a late-night tabloid, mostly on a personal level. The contrast to Trump takes up too much space in the half-hour conversation. But even in English-language interviews in recent days, Obama has not been asked twice to list the loser Republican deficits in the election. Anyone who has read the long conversation in “The Atlantic” magazine, for example, already knew the pieces. Obama neatly distributed his anecdotes from the nearly 800-page book.
Before and after the conversation, Lanz spoke with two publicists Sandra Navidi and Julius van der Laar about the importance of Obama. They both knew him before his presidency and are more likely to be well disposed when it comes to their job. “He was younger, more dynamic and more exciting than any politician I have ever met in Germany,” enthused van de Laar. After Navidi reports on the first encounters with Obama, a hotel in Washington is cut off. “I wish I had the ability to write more succinctly,” Obama jokes in response to Lanz’s humorous comment that the book is too short. The first correct question then is about Obama’s feelings on election night. It has fluctuated between excitement over the Joe Biden / Kamala Harris victory and anger over Trump’s lack of size.
Lanz tries to discover the personality in the conversation, all the questions are carefully considered, he has read the book with such intensity that he continues to draw his interlocutor about exciting episodes. Was it more difficult to get in or out of the White House? When did you realize that you had come to office? How did you explain to your daughters what awaited them? Obama avoids polite questions that allow him to look good with humor and thoughtful answers. He had accomplished a lot of good and was proud when he left office, but the feeling was bittersweet because his successor Trump was against everything he had accomplished.
It’s not primarily about political programs
Due to Lanz’s questions, the interview is much less political than the conversation mentioned in “The Atlantic.” But it is precisely the questions about his personal experience that lead to ideas that can be overlooked in more programmatic interviews about the memoirs. The former president reports that the biggest adjustment for him was the security bubble in which he and his family suddenly moved. You don’t see any more cars on the street, you go through the back entrances of hotels and you have snipers on the roofs for your own safety. “I never got used to this bladder.”
