the write to be wrong

Thursday, March 25, 2010

So.. Mr Obama has postponed his trip to Indonesia until June. The reason being he's passing a historic health care reform bill into law and furthering the divide between Democrats and Republicans back in the States.

The consolation to Indonesians - who, unfortunately (in my opinion) put Mr Obama on some kind of pedestal and regard him as a national hero (seriously?) because he spent 4 years in Indonesia - was an exclusive interview on RCTI, a national TV channel in which he reminisced fondly of eating street foods: nasi goreng, bakso and even offered his own rendition of a street vendor yelling "satee!! satee!!"

Noticeable changes in the line-up: Michelle Obama and the First Daughters will no longer accompany Mr Obama on this trip to his 'adopted homeland'.

I have always been vocal about my doubts of his upcoming maybe visit. Not just because of Mr George W Bush's epic visit. But also because my relatives and friends who live overseas seem to think that Indonesia is a war zone and we live in huts and swing from tree to tree. Okay, I exaggerated but I'm hoping you get the point.

I'm thinking Mr Obama's people realize how important sentimental Indonesians would consider the realization of what has been made out to be an emotional, nostalgic trip. And it would be hugely beneficial to use this in Mr Obama's effort to strengthen relations between the States and the so-called 'Muslim world'.

Here's the video of the aforementioned exclusive interview:

P.S. RCTI also included a segment interviewing people on the street of what they think of Mr Obama. The interviewees all commended his 'authentic' pronunciation of the words 'nasi goreng, bakso and sate'.

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