Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08SAOPAULO605
2008-11-07 15:58:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Sao Paulo
how-toVZCZCXYZ0002 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHSO #0605 3121558 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 071558Z NOV 08 FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8689 INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 9851 RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 8915 RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 3200
UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000605
SIPDIS
STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD
DEPT PASS USTR
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: U.S. ELECTIONS
The Boy from Hawaii
Commentary by former Brazilian President Jos Sarney in liberal
Folha de S. Paulo (11/07) says: "The U.S. will not change. It will
continue with its problems, contradictions, crisis, their two wars
(Iraq and Afghanistan),the contentiousness of the Middle East,
North Korea, and Iran and, in order not to be left out of the game,
the jocose challenges of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador. The major
economic, political and cultural machine is still working. A
recession coming and an international image discussed by the actions
of George W. Bush, an updated version of Theodore Roosevelt, of
"big-stick". ... Obama's victory will not change, but changes
everything. .. The victory was from the United States. It is the
country that justifies to the world the "why" of its leadership and
its capability of renewing itself, even in the middle of an economic
turmoil that nobody knows when it has started and when it will
end... He (Obama) brings hope and the additional load of being a
symbol for humankind of reconciliation of races and projects the
ideal of a world without skin color and equalized by the dream of
Luther King: character. From this message he had the historical
responsibility of being the protagonist. He cannot fail in using
this power given to him to pacify, unite and build a world different
from the one he found when he was born on a night in Hawaii in the
arms of a Kenyan, black as the night, originating from one of the
most primitive tribes of his country, a boy crying, but a leader
that has changed American history."
A Black President
Center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (11/07) comments: "President-elect
Barak Obama's speech is a speech of a statesman that, beyond an
optimistic message about the future of the U.S., contains the key to
understanding the question of the day's journey of November 4: the
election of the first black president in a country that has 43%
white voters, paradoxically, ended up doing what he did without
being mature enough. It is true that Bush's series of disasters was
decisive for Obama's success, but it is also true that a white
Democratic candidate, even without exceptional skills, would have
had a major part of many white voters."
White