tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892827037183316611.post1100681041547851235..comments2023-10-09T08:27:03.515-04:00Comments on Runesmith's Canadian Content: Trudeau and Obama: The View from the National PostJennifer Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14610902519752808810noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892827037183316611.post-53619225662040139582008-06-24T01:59:00.000-04:002008-06-24T01:59:00.000-04:00I just clued in to this connection tonight (Can't ...I just clued in to this connection tonight (Can't believe it took me this long!), after watching Obama's recent speech in Flint, Michigan. I sensed a passion for the possible in Obama that I recall in Trudeau ... Even though I was only ten years old when "Trudeaumania" hit Canada, I caught the bug, so to speak. At ten, I thought that Trudeau would make the coolest dad (he obviously was to his children, and he *cherished* them, as Obama does his two girls); I've been fascinated, inspired, and sometimes driven a bit bonkers by the man's intelligence, charisma, ideas...and his smart-ass wit. All faults aside, I believe that Trudeau *loved* his country, its ideals and people (despite his reputation for "reason over passion" and a persona that could verge on the haughty); I sense a similar feeling and drive for national greatness in Obama.<BR/><BR/>The synchronicities and complements between the two men are amazing -- one being their names. Pierre (French) Elliot (English) Trudeau (from the Old High German "drud" -- see the marvelous http://www.billcasselman.com for more -- See the third entry in the "What's in a Canadian Name?" section) ... and Barack (shared origin: Arabic and Hebrew) Hussein (Arabic) Obama (Kenyan). Both men of wide-ranging heritage; one uniquely Canadian and one utterly American ... and both visionary beyond their countries' identities and borders.<BR/><BR/>Obama said something in his Flint speech: "If we choose to change..."<BR/><BR/>"If we choose to change." How often do we hear statements like that? How often does a politician remind us of our shared responsibilities towards one another and the world?<BR/><BR/>Both men -- I think of each as a "paterfamilias" to his country -- have urged people to wake up, grow up (Obama, to paraphrase: "Turn off the TV; put down the remote..."), and act together for the greater good. How refreshing ... and forty years after Trudeaumania, the world's ills are that much more serious and people sense it, deeply ... so it's unlikely that Obama will whoosh down a staircase, pirouette behind a Queen or give dissenters the finger ... but oh, he'll shake up the status quo and that can only be to the world's good.<BR/><BR/>I can't help but wonder if Obama has ever studied Trudeau's life...I wonder who his intellectual mentors have been...Jaliyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02868006713291780694noreply@blogger.com