White House prospect Obama forever changed by Asia sojourn
White House prospect Obama forever changed by Asia sojourn
WASHINGTON (AFP) - White House prospect Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) has deep ties to Africa and America, but told AFP he was also greatly influenced by a years-long childhood sojourn in Asia.
When he was six years old, Obama's mother moved him to Indonesia for several years, which he said, left a lasting imprint on him during his formative years.
"It was very powerful. I had an Indonesian stepfather. I went to an Indonesian-speaking school," Obama, a first-term US senator representing the Midwest state of Illinois, said in an interview.
"It gave me an enormous appreciation for the magnificent culture and history of Asia. It gave me a great love for the people of Asia," said Obama, who had returned to his native state of Hawaii by the age of 10.
He added that life in Indonesia opened his eyes to extremes of poverty and wealth around the world, and the wrenching effect of political upheaval on ordinary people.
"It made me mindful of the huge gaps in opportunity that exist in many countries of the world. It also made me appreciate how deeply impoverished people can be -- how issues of corruption can thwart opportunity," Obama said.
A rising star of the Democratic party, Obama announced last October that he was weighing a bid for the US presidency in 2008.
He is considered an early leading contender for his party's nomination along with New York Senator Hillary Clinton, the former US first lady.
The 45-year old senator, who is just two years into a six-year Senate term, is expected to make a decision about a White House run in the next few weeks.
The son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother from the US heartland state of Kansas, Obama identifies himself as African-American and is seen by most Americans as such.
But supporters say he also is a multicultural figure who transcends race, thanks in part to a childhood spent in Hawaii, where he was born, and Indonesia.
Obama said that his Asia sojourn gave him a greater awareness of Washington's global power, and its huge impact on average people around the world.
"It made me appreciate the role that the United States can play for good and for ill in improving the economies and conditions for people around the world," he told AFP.
Indonesia's ambassador to Washington Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat told AFP that he hopes Obama's Indonesia childhood has made a "positive contribution" to relations between the two nations, given "the office that Senator Barack Obama holds, and the leadership he enjoys."
He added that the senator "possesses a large amount of wisdom, the strength of which plays a dominant role in shaping his perception of the international world."
Obama in 2005 sponsored US Senate legislation to increase America's preparedness for an avian flu pandemic -- a subject of personal interest in large part because of his firsthand experience of Asia.
"That was an area where my knowledge of Indonesia and its landscape and how poultry farming is done there probably triggered a better sense for me of how much of a threat it can be over the long term," Obama said.
The Democratic star, who was touted several weeks ago on the cover of Time magazine as a leading US presidential prospect, has been on tour plugging his latest book, "The Audacity of Hope," which sets out his political views.
But he still draws kudos for an earlier work, "Dreams From My Father" -- an autobiographical work written more than a decade ago, in which he writes eloquently about his Indonesian childhood.
The book, penned years before his election to the US Senate and long before he harbored presidential aspirations, is a frank accounting of his early life, including adolescent drug use.
In it, Obama describes Indonesia as "a charged and challenging place" where "my vision had been permanently altered."
He writes of having needed less than half a year as a child to become acquainted with Indonesia's language, customs and legends. He lovingly describes the pleasures of his pet ape, his first exposure to the country's "monkey god" deity, and his membership in Indonesian boy scout troop.
He also writes in "Dreams From My Father" of his introduction to the exotic delicacies of snake meat and roasted grasshopper.
His time in Indonesia, Obama wrote in the book, was "one long adventure, the bounty of a young man's life."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070109/pl_afp/usvoteobama2008_070109121726
WASHINGTON (AFP) - White House prospect Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) has deep ties to Africa and America, but told AFP he was also greatly influenced by a years-long childhood sojourn in Asia.
When he was six years old, Obama's mother moved him to Indonesia for several years, which he said, left a lasting imprint on him during his formative years.
"It was very powerful. I had an Indonesian stepfather. I went to an Indonesian-speaking school," Obama, a first-term US senator representing the Midwest state of Illinois, said in an interview.
"It gave me an enormous appreciation for the magnificent culture and history of Asia. It gave me a great love for the people of Asia," said Obama, who had returned to his native state of Hawaii by the age of 10.
He added that life in Indonesia opened his eyes to extremes of poverty and wealth around the world, and the wrenching effect of political upheaval on ordinary people.
"It made me mindful of the huge gaps in opportunity that exist in many countries of the world. It also made me appreciate how deeply impoverished people can be -- how issues of corruption can thwart opportunity," Obama said.
A rising star of the Democratic party, Obama announced last October that he was weighing a bid for the US presidency in 2008.
He is considered an early leading contender for his party's nomination along with New York Senator Hillary Clinton, the former US first lady.
The 45-year old senator, who is just two years into a six-year Senate term, is expected to make a decision about a White House run in the next few weeks.
The son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother from the US heartland state of Kansas, Obama identifies himself as African-American and is seen by most Americans as such.
But supporters say he also is a multicultural figure who transcends race, thanks in part to a childhood spent in Hawaii, where he was born, and Indonesia.
Obama said that his Asia sojourn gave him a greater awareness of Washington's global power, and its huge impact on average people around the world.
"It made me appreciate the role that the United States can play for good and for ill in improving the economies and conditions for people around the world," he told AFP.
Indonesia's ambassador to Washington Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat told AFP that he hopes Obama's Indonesia childhood has made a "positive contribution" to relations between the two nations, given "the office that Senator Barack Obama holds, and the leadership he enjoys."
He added that the senator "possesses a large amount of wisdom, the strength of which plays a dominant role in shaping his perception of the international world."
Obama in 2005 sponsored US Senate legislation to increase America's preparedness for an avian flu pandemic -- a subject of personal interest in large part because of his firsthand experience of Asia.
"That was an area where my knowledge of Indonesia and its landscape and how poultry farming is done there probably triggered a better sense for me of how much of a threat it can be over the long term," Obama said.
The Democratic star, who was touted several weeks ago on the cover of Time magazine as a leading US presidential prospect, has been on tour plugging his latest book, "The Audacity of Hope," which sets out his political views.
But he still draws kudos for an earlier work, "Dreams From My Father" -- an autobiographical work written more than a decade ago, in which he writes eloquently about his Indonesian childhood.
The book, penned years before his election to the US Senate and long before he harbored presidential aspirations, is a frank accounting of his early life, including adolescent drug use.
In it, Obama describes Indonesia as "a charged and challenging place" where "my vision had been permanently altered."
He writes of having needed less than half a year as a child to become acquainted with Indonesia's language, customs and legends. He lovingly describes the pleasures of his pet ape, his first exposure to the country's "monkey god" deity, and his membership in Indonesian boy scout troop.
He also writes in "Dreams From My Father" of his introduction to the exotic delicacies of snake meat and roasted grasshopper.
His time in Indonesia, Obama wrote in the book, was "one long adventure, the bounty of a young man's life."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070109/pl_afp/usvoteobama2008_070109121726
posted by presgore19 at 4:23 PM
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