The American primaries showed increasing interest in Obama and Clinton in France janvier 14 2008
Publié par Pierrick Leurent in : In English/ En Anglais , rétrolienFrom now on, I’ll try to write each month an article in English for those who live in the US or for readers living in France and who cannot understand French. This month article is the English version of an interview of Eleanor Beardsley, an American journalist living in Paris.
The American primaries started on January the 3rd with the caucus in Iowa. On the Democratic side, Obama’s surprising victory followed by Clinton’s “come back” in New Hampshire (when all the polls showed Obama would win) were extensively covered by the French media. Eleanor Beardsley, an American journalist in Paris for National Public Radio, gave her opinion on the first days of the primaries.
“If any candidate wins both Iowa and New Hampshire, so far, it has always been the winner of the primary elections.” This is how Eleanor Beardsley, a journalist for National Public Radio in Paris, summed up what is at stake in the first two primaries which took place last week in two small northern states in the US. The first primary elections – which decide who will be candidate for both the Republican and the Democratic party in the forthcoming presidential election – have a strong impact on the following primaries.
“If Barack Obama had won in New Hampshire”, she said, “Hillary Clinton would have been out.” The importance of these two small states, which are not even representative of the American population, is, surprisingly, increasing. For Eleanor, “it’s a media thing : Iowa moved their caucus closer to New Hampshire every four years and finally moved it before.” Furthermore, the government allows the polls to be published when people are still voting, which interferes with the votes.
What struck her the most is the fact that, after Obama’s unexpected victory in Iowa, Hillary Clinton has managed to come back in the running, although the majority of the opinion polls showed Obama in the lead in New Hampshire. Did Hillary’s strong emotion during a TV show the day before the primaries in New Hampshire help her to win? And was this emotion calculated ? “I think it’s true that she is very calculating and she does everything she can to be liked. But I think her tears were real, because the candidates are under incredible pressure and sleep deprivation. She must have been shocked when she realized she was losing”, Beardsley commented. Most of the candidates go on campaign for at least two years in America, and it is an incredibly long and exhausting way to the White House.
A French “Obamania” ?
The Republican candidates clearly do not interest her as much as the Democratic ones. They do not seem to grab French media attention either. “The Republican candidates are weird”, Eleanor said with a smile. “There is a Mormon and a Baptist among them. It is logical that the French media focus on Clinton and Obama, who are much more challenging and exciting candidates. Anyway, you don’t have to make it equal in foreign countries.”
At the moment, Obama is the subject of many articles and he appears on many newspaper front pages in Europe. In the International Herald Tribune last week, a journalist analyzed what he called an “Obamania” in Germany. According to Eleanor, the situation is not the same in France. “With his rhetorical capacities and his charisma, Obama reminds the German people of JFK. In France, most people like Obama and Clinton but they don’t know much about their story. For instance, Obama is not considered as a black American in the US because his father was Kenyan and had nothing to do with the American history of slavery. Neither is he from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. In fact, Most African-Americans support Clinton more than Obama.”
The next elections, including South Carolina on January the 26th, will provide information about Obama’s popularity among black Americans.
Interview made on January the 9th.
Commentaires»
It’s not true most people like RON PAUL so do i
Ed
This is an interview, and, as such, it doesn’t mean to be true. It’s just representative of a certain point of view. Eleanor is clearly a democrat. On the French media attention to Republican candidates, I think it has changed a little in the past days, since the media now understand that it’s not sure at all that a democratic candidate will win, and that the French need to know more about the Republican candidates. In my next article, there will be a little comment on each candidate that is likely to run for the presidential election.