Jaipur Chronicles: The Disappointment of Obama

David Remnick in discussion with Samanth Subramanian

The first lecture that I attended at the Jaipur Literature Fest was a discussion with David Remnick on Barack Obama’s Presidency. What interested me about this topic when I spotted it on the schedule of the JLF was that it was something that I had been hearing about for a while. It seemed that every week, whenever I did watch the news, there was someone on TV talking about how Obama was not doing what he was expected and what he should have done.

Personally, I felt similar, the enthusiasm that Obama had in his election was shared by people across the world. Now, it could have been because of the fact that George Bush was finally going out of the White House but I like to believe that “Yes We Can’ really made the world have a bit of a moral boost. In discussions that I overheard at home, between my relatives, people would mention how he promised to close Guantanamo Bay, how he promised to end the war in Iraq among other things. He got everyone up and enthusiastic looking forward to a complete u-turn.

This is when one starts looking at the other side of things, Obama did end the war in Iraq, but redeployed troops in Afghanistan, approved of a surgical strike to kill Osama in another nation without permission, and then there is the financial bailout.

This is where I become more accepting of the theory that Obama simply got a really bad presidency.

David Remnick is the editor of The New Yorker, an American culture magazine, and the author of several historical books most notably, ‘Lenin’s Tomb’ and ‘The Bridge’. David Remnick had a deep insight into the Obama campaign as he interview members that work very closely with the now President of the United States.

Remnick had a natural flair and charisma to him which instantly allowed every member of the audience to connect to him and every word that he uttered. Remnick was guided by Samanth Subramanian who in actuality, remained pretty quiet for most of the session as Remnick just rolled with the topics at hand.

As the talk began, Remnick was asked about how he came to know about Barack who, as a presidential candidate came out of the perceivable nowhere. Remnick discussed how the first time he’d heard of Barack Obama was in 2004 during a Democratic Party Convention in Boston. He recalled how the crowd was actually enthusiastic during the speech and were engrossed with the words that Obama spoke. As Remnick said, “He knows how to give a speech”.

It was after this that the value of Remnick’s research and insight as a journalist came out as the topic of discussion dove into why it was a black candidate that won the elections, not a woman. As Remnick points out, it was as a result of the ‘Racial Struggle’, and how the idea of a Black president was introduced with Jesse James who actually managed to win in the state of Alabama, a ‘white dominated’ state.

Remnick compared the two Democratic Candidates as having very similar policies and near identical stances on certain issues which meant that the discriminatory factors had to be included in the decision. America had to decide whether it wanted a Black President or a Female President.

As the conversation between the two-man panel ended, Samanth asked David Remnick about his opinion on the disappointment of Obama. Remnick hesitated, and clarified, that as a journalist, his job was to criticise and in that respect, Obama hadn’t done even a quarter of the things he had promised. However, on the other hand, compared to other presidents, Obama stood in a much better standing. Remnick reasoned this as the result of the time that Obama was included into office: “I can’t even count the number of crisis’s”

I can’t say I disagree with Remnick, Obama was given such high expectations during an abysmal period that it’s hard to not feel disappointed with him, but on the flipside, when you see the problems that he’s had to deal with in 4 years, he hasn’t done that bad a job.

David Remnick provided one of the most interesting insights into the current US Presidents Campaign and political mindset. From looking at his influences, his aspirations and how the man went against the odds I have to admit that this was one of my favourite sessions at the Jaipur Literary Festival.