Radio Utopie

USA, Wisconsin: Just imagine you were in the Golden Globe jury and you should judge an actor during a writers strike. Not talking about a movie produced in a time of one. What´s the core of politics? What´s the sense of it? Entertainment? Something that makes you feel better? At least for a moment, a speech? 4 more minutes? If Barack Obama speechwriters now fire back about charges of plagiarism prompted by the Hillary Clinton campaign, saying that the words Obama used in a weekend speech which resembled remarks made by Deval Patrick during his successful Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign in 2006 were „offered by Patrick, a friend and political ally, to Obama‘s speechwriters“ (1), it is still uncertain who´s behind the curtain of this white-collar messiah who wants to get into the White House.

Strait of Hormuz: Five Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats „harassed and provoked“ three U.S. Navy ships early Sunday in international waters, the U.S. military said Monday, calling the encounter a „significant“ confrontation. Well – actually that´s what CNN reported (1). But there were other reports at the beginning: „Citing unnamed military officials in Washington, CNN, NBC and other news outlets reported today that one of five Iranian ships came within 200 yards of a group of three U.S. naval vessels Saturday night in international waters within the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage through which much of the gulf’s oil reaches the world.“ (2)

There are some strange things about Barack Obama who emerged from nowhere in 2004, indeed. But noone even seems to care. As someone who took part in the Berlin parliamentary election in 2006 as a candidate I will try to focus on 2 items: the background and the strategic aspect regarding the candidacy of Barack Obama against Hillary Clinton. The Paul Simon Legend The day Barack Obama entered the stage of Washington politics was when he got elected as United States Senator from Illinois in 2004. Before that he had served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004 with an unsuccessful Democratic primary run (1) for the U.S. House of Representatives seat in 2000. But the foundation of his election as a senator in 2004 – and, in fact, also for his success in Iowa a few days ago – was a legend: the Paul Simon Legend.