“Barack and I have always believed in the power of storytelling ... "
oh boy, when I read this headline on a German news sites, I couldn't help but chuckling out loud.
If I had something like a steep learning curve in the last six years, then it was the one over the reactions I watched here and on TOP of the feelings in the audience and judgments they made about Obama's political decisions (including the ones I wasn't aware of and learned about). I felt some people here were a little miffed about my 'tolerance' towards Obama's misdeeds. I had my own way (the ones of people who have no history, social and political science degrees, knowledge or expertise, just some little folks instincts, which of course can easily be bamboozled) to see through Obama.
Recently I 'excused' Obama as being more of an African than an Afro-American. I remember that true truth seeking Afro-Americans, like Dr. Cornel West for example, early on in Obama's campaigns were involved in discussing the question 'if Obama would be black enough'. Back then I thought that the question was very destructive and I would have rather seen a question like for example, 'is Obama socialist enough', to put doubt on his role of supporting the interests of the working poor, the poorer middle class, especially those of color. Apparently there was very early on a lot of doubt about that. Where this came from, I don't know. And the original phrasing of that question was in a way 'telling' of how racial issues are handled in the political campaigns of the US. Enlightening dark as fog can be.
Obama being more of an African is one aspect I couldn't overlook. Because 'story telling' is the art of the African man, his father (sort of) being one of them. They are so good at it that they can bamboozle anyone, make the audience feel comfortable, inspired and genuinely happy. The intelligence behind the story telling is admired, the fact that the story teller could end up a con-man, if the story told would cross over and transferred to political activities is not paid attention to.
Being a 'con'-story teller is something everybody loves. It's entertaining. No doubt. In the traditional setting of an African villager listening to their best story-tellers, the audience just gets kicks out of it, they understand the 'con' part of it and find it usually hilarious how the story teller does it. It's a skill valued as intelligence.
The few comments I read to this 'news' story, made it clear. There are deep, deep rifts about how people think about the motives behind a good story teller.
This the official announcement from Netflix:
Netflix Forming Storytelling Partnership With Barack and Michelle Obama
That's the way main stream German TV News channels reported it: (translated by me and online translation software)
Umfangreiche Kooperation: Obamas unterschreiben bei Netflix - Stand: 21.05.2018 20:00 Uhr
The US streaming service Netflix has committed two prominent employees: Ex-President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle will in future produce films and series for the company.
Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have signed an extensive cooperation agreement with the video streaming service Netflix. It includes the production of films, series and documentaries, Netflix said. Nothing was known about the financial volume of the cooperation.
Netflix boss Ted Sarandos said the Obama couple are in a unique position to discover and highlight stories about people who are driving their communities forward.
The power of storytellingThe Obama formed a production company called Higher Ground for the cooperation. Barack Obama stated in a statement that he very much hopes to help Michelle promote the many talented, creative and inspiring voices that support a better mutual understanding between people. "We want to help them share their stories with the world."
And Michelle Obama said, "Barack and I have always believed in the power of storytelling - to inspire and change our thinking about the world."
Health policy, immigration, suffrageAbout the project had been speculated for some time. The New York Times first reported on it in March. It was said that authoritative topics of the productions could be the fields, which Obama had also as president at heart. These included, for example, health policy, the topic of immigration or the right to vote.
The newspaper had quoted Obama as saying that the global platform should not be used for a confrontation with his successor Donald Trump or for daily politics. The Obama's are holding back publicly since they left the White House. Although they continue to live in the capital Washington, they are hardly to be seen there.
Netflix is the largest video streaming service in the world with approximately 125 million subscribers (Q1 2018). He produces successful series such as "House of Cards", "Orange is the new black", "Narcos", "Stranger Things" or "The Crown". Barack Obama recently made a Netflix appearance on David Letterman's talk show.
Well, all I know, there is nothing more seductive than story telling and money and the power of a camera. They can produce the darnest things ... I don't say more, but is it the truthiness of a story (or documentary) or is it the money the story makes?
The headline made me laugh. Just for fun I posted this. Have a good Tuesday morning.
Comments
Story telling indeed!
Barack's entire political life has been one "story telling". i.e., "con job" as you correctly declare. At first I thought this birther nonsense was just that--now I think otherwise. The Hawaiian official certifying his birth certificate as real died in a plane crash in which she was the only one who died. Peculiar? Coinkydink?
His whole 2008 political campaign was a con job from the start. My brother Alphonse knew this but it took me way too long to realize this. The 2012 campaign, being pursued by the ravenous, rabid Medusa was one of desperately holding on to hope and change, long after both issue were vitiated by his first term in office.
Michelle? WTF has she done to make America better? Subscribers threaten Netflix boycott. I hope they follow through.
Are the Germans at large still believing Obama is Herr Wunderbar?
Brought to you by Chuck Schumer
Barack didn't think much of the idea but Chucky convinced him that he had what it takes "to run for office". I think that it took us about 5 years to figure him out. But once again what was the alternative? Maybe we should just say it -- our means of selecting candidates for the job of POTUS is fatally flawed. We have pretty much had seriously defective candidates during all of my lifetime. Why do we not debate qualifications and stands on issues? Oh yeah I know why, the Oligarchy would not put up with that. Can you imagine if we had had a serious campaign, with analysis, of G.W.Bush vs. Al Gore? I'd like to have seen a comparison of original work from each. Oh yeah, Bush never wrote anything original. That contest should have resulted in a landslide for Gore, as the contrast could not have been more stark. Much better a superficial beauty contest among "safe" candidates. Democracy can't happen in our country -- what happened to Bernie is the proof. And we are paying an enormous price, and will continue to pay, perhaps fatally. Candidates don't represent themselves. There have two sides, the side bought and payed for by the Corporate State and the side that gets marketed to us. Not surprisingly they can't govern when they get elected.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
Mr. Wunderbar ... It just feels so good to believe in wonderman
heh ...
at least when I dared to once criticize something something about Obama to a lady here in Germany about his policies, she got furious and started to say I should become a realist and read at least real newspapers and not some junk, followed by some newspapers, who were all the gooder ones in Germany, which I sometimes read.
I just smiled and said nothing. Apparently she thought I am a right-wing conservative and therefore said something bad about a Democrat. Oh well, what the heck. I am used to 'people not understanding other people', so I let her go. I was just amazed how certain she was that she was right and I was ... a dumb housewife or something like it.
Nothing about internal divisions among the Democrats in the US crosses over into the German news, as far as I can see. Most people don't know much about Clinton, Obama, GWBush etc... one has a gender, one has a race and one has a brain (or not). Of course they all know Trump, he just thinks he has a brain...
https://www.euronews.com/
He should be excellent at it honestly....
He's likely the most qualified evah!
Because he's had tons of experience telling us stories for 2 terms and a primary.
Just a shame he only does fiction...
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
Actually,
he did rather a lot of dystopian horror when voters weren't looking.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Barack who?
Didn't he marry some Royal?
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Oh I just love stories too!
Like the one Obama told us about pulling out of Afghanistan.... ha ha ha.... that was a knee slapper! So was the one where he received the Nobel Peace Prize and went right out and sent drones to bomb wedding parties. Then there was the one about reversing Bush's Faith Based Initiatives allowing federal grant recipients to discriminate in their hiring... this was a campaign promise. Not only did Obama not keep that promise, but he became the first President to gather a group of faith based "advisors" to help him make policy on the monies they were all receiving! That should have gotten the fox and henhouse award! But my favorite Obama tale is the one that involves making a public statement about Hillary's email/server mess and telling everyone there was nothing to see there... she was just being CARELESS! Dog whistle duly received by Justice Dept. who then changed the parameters of what described violations of sharing classified info into "whether she meant to break the law". Then Comey comes up with a brilliant statement... she was just being extremely CARELESS! Message received. That's the best story of all.... how Obama interfered with a DOJ/FBI investigation in order to salvage his "legacy". A very powerful storytelling talent there! However, the next story might be the one where the DOJ/FBI gets caught following Obama's order to keep an eye on the Trump campaign. Obama might have handed the orange devil a big PR win.
I see Obama's legacy spinning on the edge of that drain. Great story!
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin
I liked the one
about wearing comfortable shoes to labor rallies.
bygorry
story teller is way too nice.
What this fckr did was lie his way into office so that Wall Street could live happily ever after. BO and Michelle will create a Hallmark Channel for the Resistors. Lots of people (conservatives?) are really pissed at Netflix for giving him a platform. They are all threatening to cancel their subscriptions. The boycott over taking a knee made a dent in NFL revenue. I hope they do more than dent Netflix. I'll never watch a damn thing produced by these two most awful people.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Your right, I prefer Bullshit artist...
Which reminds me of my favorite Bae Arthur clip.
[video:https://youtu.be/oBIxGjSHzF8]
Love that movie...
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me