A Beer at the White House

Published in Le Nouvel Observateur
(France) on 30 July 2009
by Patrick Lozes (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Mulanga Diane. Edited by .

Edited by Alex Brewer

Proofread by Christie Chu

In France everything ends with songs. In the United States, does everything eventually end with a beer?

Barack Obama’s opinion on the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., an African-American professor at Harvard, by a white officer is controversial.

Barack Obama seemed upset by the “stupid” behavior of the police officer. He called his countrymen to be aware of the consequences of racial profiling.

Obama smartly invited the two to smoke a peace pipe at the White House, and therewith offers his country an image of a reconciled nation. Is the role of the president to identify what causes tension and reduce that tension, if necessary by using cultural symbols?

Obama shows day after day that he remains very sensitive to the plight of minorities, but he does it in the best possible way: defending the public interest and showing that minority rights are not antithetical to the general interest. Equality for blacks is the same as equality for whites. It is equality for all ... whites and blacks!



Allez, viens boire un petit coup à la Maison…Blanche
En France tout finit par des chansons. Aux Etats-Unis, tout finirait-il autour d’un verre ?
Barack Obama s’était bruyamment invité dans la polémique née de l'arrestation de Henry Louis Gates Jr, 'un enseignant noir de Harvard par James Crowley un policier blanc.

Barack Obama avait paru très irrité par l'attitude « stupide » des forces de l'ordre. Et avait appelé ses concitoyens à regarder en face les conséquences des contrôles dits "au faciès"

Finaud, Obama invite maintenant les 2 deux à fumer le calumet de la paix à la Maison-blanche et il offrira ainsi à son pays l’image d’une nation multiple diverse et réconciliée.
Et si le rôle d’un président était d’identifier ce qui fait tension et de réduire ces tensions en commençant, si nécessaire, par les symboles?
Obama montre jour après jour qu'il reste très sensible au sort des minorités, mais il le fait de la meilleure manière qui soit: en défendant l'intérêt général et en montrant que les droits des minorités ne sont pas antinomiques de l'intérêt général. L'égalité pour les Noirs, ce n'est pas moins d'égalité pour les Blancs, C'est l'égalité pour tous... Blancs ET Noirs!

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