A special Obama fan

By Charlotte Pudlowski

Yesterday evening, at the Blue Note bar, Obama's acceptance speech was broadcasted on a gigantic screen. In front of the bar, John Fry, an Obama fan, was smoking a cigarette.

John Fry was born in South Indiana and is now setlled in Columbia Missouri. He claims to be 61 years old, and used to be an architect. When he talks about Obama, he becomes lively and lights up.

The irony is that his father used to belong to the Ku Klux Klan. When you ask John Fry what his father says about his son voting for a Black candidate, he answers : "My father died in 1963, he doesn't get to talk anymore. I do." Then he adds : "He was of the vermine type, he would have probably voted for John McCain"

As for him, he is going to vote for Obama because he is "eloquent, talented and handsome" "Of course that counts! he explains. I am tired of seeing ugly politicians!"

Later in the evening, he was sitting inside the bar, in front of the huge screen, holding an "O", for Obama.

Real people, real speeches?

By Baptiste Etchegaray

While we were waiting for Barack Obama to give his acceptance speech at the DNC closing night in Denver, Colorado, a handful of “real people” (meaning middle-class folks) was coming and going on the stage to support the Democratic nominee inside the crowded stadium. There was Roy Gross, a truck driver from Michigan, Monica Early, an insurance agent from Ohio, Janet Lynn Monaco, a local pet store owner from New York, and so on.

They all explained how good were their lives before the Bush administration took office and how the economy turned so bad during the 8-year-long Republican-led executive. Many of Roy Gross’ friends “have lost their jobs“, Pamela Cash-Roper’s American dream simply “turned into a nightmare” and according to Janet Lynn Monaco “Bush and McCain have done nothing to help people like [her]”. Barney Smith, who spent most of his life supporting the Republicans explained why this time his vote would go to the Democrats.

What struck me was the ease those folks were speaking with. They did not seem nervous at all, showed no stress talking before 80,000 people, had no hesitation, never mumbled. It was if they had done it hundreds of times before, though communicating was certainly not their main domain.

Obviously, speech coaches did a great job training those “real people”. Whether speeches were genuine or not is another matter. The “true stories” the audience was told yesterday were not spontaneous enough to be fully trusted. And it somehow undermined the initial goal.

“Real people” burst into in French politics too, at the occasion of the presidential election last year. They even sometimes replaced skilled reporters at interviewing candidates on political TV shows, sparking a huge controversy. The search for “real people” during campaigns is now becoming an important strategy in political spinning. Well, should we call them “real” or “fake real”… or even “real fake”?

Hillary’s speech was a true success, but was it a true speech?

PAPERS REVIEW: WHAT’S HOT?

By Charlotte Pudlowski

The French press is clear : Hillary’s speech has been a great success. On Road 44 (Le Figaro‘s web blog on the American elections), Julie Connan writes “We can’t stop Hillary!” She quotes the New York senator’s speech, asking for delegates’ vote to be stopped and for Barack Obama to be elected right away.

On Libération.fr , Arnaud Vaulerin explains that the former candidate “has delivered a strongely uniting speech” and “does everything to burry the hatchet“.

In Le Monde, Corine Lesnes underlines : “Hillary Clinton may not have gained Democrat’s investiture but she may have reached what she was aiming at : a real popularity”

However Guillemette Faure, from the French website Rue 89, evokes a “smokescreen reconciliation” and wonders : “Hillary has made a speech to support Barack Obama, but can we believe her?” Whereas most articles tell about the bursts of applause at Clinton’s speech, Guillemette Faure asks : “Were they applause or sighs of relief? ”

Her tone is quite pessimistic indeed. She adds : “No matter what the polls say, one third of Clinton’s supporters have no intention to vote for Barack Obama in november, and contrary to what Obama’s supporters were hoping for, this figure doesn’t  decrease. It’s even the opposite. “

But why the Clintons should not be sincere?

College Democrats missing…

By Mélissa Bounoua

Where are the members of College Democrats, the democratic organization of Mizzou students, when almost all the Democrats are in Denver, at the Democratic National Convention?

August 27th, Day 2 of the convention, 3:15pm: nobody at the College Democrats’ desk in Brady Commons…

Same day, 5pm: Nobody reading the special issue from Time Magazine about Democrats, at the Ellis Library on campus…

All the supporters of Barack Obama, the now official Democratic Party’s nominee, may eventually have gone to the Democratic Convention…Even if classes have already started since the beginning of the week.

However some students from the University of Missouri in Columbia, who support Obama, stayed on campus to attend classes.

Steven Aronberg, 19, a freshman student in journalism, is one of them. As he walk by in Brady Commons, he is  proud to wear his Obama T-shirt, he explained that he can still watch the Convention on TV.

“I could’nt go there, this is first week of class, I have to stay here“