FRENCH POLITICAL SCIENTIST ANALYZES OBAMA FROM EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE
Michael Mette
State Hornet, California State University
April 16 2009
Sacramento
While being very popular overseas, President Barack Obama and Europe
still have disagreements, said French university lecturer Olivier
Richomme told Sacramento State students Wednesday.
The University of Lyon lecturer talked at the University Union about
Obama’s recent journey to the G-20 summit in London and Europe’s
perception of the new president, especially from French President
Nicolas Sarkozy.
"One of his main goals was showing that America is on a different
path," Richomme said. "He is rebranding American. The demonstrations
at the G-20 would have been much different if Bush was there."
He pointed out a number of disagreements between Obama and Sarkozy,
including the American economic stimulus plan and Turkey’s possible
membership to the European Union.
One of Obama’s main goals at the G-20 conference was to convince
European Union countries to follow the route of the United States
and the United Kingdom and implement large economic stimulus packages.
Richomme said France and Germany opposed the stimulus packages because
their countries’ economic situation was different from America and
Britain.
He said growth in the United States and Britain is based around
private debt, concerning the growth of private companies. In France
and Germany, growth is based on public debt, growth in the public
sector like with public health organizations.
"These stimulus plans would possibly endanger the economies of these
counties," Richomme said.
When Obama visited Turkey after the G-20, he said he supported Turkey
becoming a member of the European Union. Richomme said most of the
European Union is apprehensive of the idea.
He said there were many concerns from France’s side with Turkey’s
admission into the Union, including Turkey’s unwillingness to label the
Armenia genocide as a genocide, expanding the border of the European
Union to Iraq and the fear of more Muslims coming into Western Europe.
But, he also said France does a lot of business with Turkey and they
could possibly provide a pathway to transport oil to Western Europe
from the Middle East.
Richomme said it would be awhile before Turkey entered into a political
union with the European Union, but other agreements may form in the
close future.
"We will probably see a multilateral union with Turkey, involving
military and economic unions," Richomme said.
Sophomore kinesiology major Richard Walker attended the packed lecture
and said he gained insight on the relations between France and the
United States.
"I though it was interesting to find out how popular Obama is overseas
and how different the protest would have been if Bush was there,"
Walker said.
Sophomore geography major Rachel Stewart came with Walker and said
it was enjoyable, but was upset at how many students left during
the lecture.
"I feel like Sac State doesn’t have a good representation when it
comes to things like this," Stewart said. "I mean, so many people
left while he was talking."