L-r: Jonathan Freedland, Norma Percy, Paul Mitchell. Photo: Tolly Robinson
The first of the four-part series looks at the initial two years of Obama’s administration, during which he passed the largest stimulus in American history; pledged – ultimately unsuccessfully – to close Guantanamo Bay; bailed out Michigan’s automotive industry; and crashed a meeting at the 2009 Copenhagen climate change summit to secure a deal between the United States and China.
The documentary, which took three years to make, is comprised of interviews with key figures within the administration, as well as previously unseen archive footage from the White House.
Jonathan Freedland. Photo: Tolly Robinson
Chair Jonathan Freedland asked if the structure of the documentary – focusing on a few, defining points of the administration – risked dramatising rather than documenting Obama’s years in the White House, creating a ‘West Wing’ narrative of events at the cost of accuracy.
In fact, Percy said, what surprised her most about making the documentary was “how much real politics is like the West Wing.” She added that Gene Spurling, who is interviewed in the first programme, was a consultant to The West Wing.
Norma Percy. Photo: Tolly Robinson
“What we try and do is show what it’s like inside the room when the big decisions are made. So what were the big decisions? What were the key meetings?” Percy said.
“Sometimes, trivial stories can be much more revealing than big ones,” she said. Obama dressing down Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner after a shambolic press conference, for example, or one economic adviser failing to invite a rival adviser to a crucial meeting – both of which feature in the first episode.
Mitchell said that the programme was not considered dramatic by the BBC when it was pitched. “If you think that getting three economic stories in a row in an hour of BBC primetime TV is considered dramatic – well, you have no idea what that was like. They weren’t keen at all [initially].”
“There’s absolutely no way in two hours that you can do an encyclopedia. What you really want to do is three or four stories, and do them really well. You want to pick the right ones – the ones which are consequential,” Mitchell said.
Paul Mitchell. Photo: Tolly Robinson.
Nearing the end of his presidency, Obama is now beginning to address that question of consequence, and legacy. This is reflected by the fact that the production team were able to secure an interview with the President through a newly appointed “legacy team” of press officers.
“Obama’s legacy will only continue to grow,” Percy said. “He did some amazing things: bringing healthcare to the American people, opening up relations with Cuba, and Iran [the US deal which ensured Iran would not obtain nuclear weapons].”
Mitchell added that determining Obama’s legacy would be a long-term project. “He set out to transform America, to move it in a progressive way. I think part of his legacy is going to be the degree to which he’s done that. It’s going to take a long, long time to understand where he succeeded and where he failed.”
The next episode of Inside Obama’s White House will be broadcast on Tuesday 22 March 2016 at 9PM on BBC2.
]]>When Barack Obama was elected, the world cheered. Not only was he the first African-American President, he inspired hope and trust – everywhere. His promises – to end the war in Iraq, close Guantanamo, fight climate change, reform American healthcare – seemed to mark a new era of civility and hope. What happened instead was the worst economic collapse in living memory, a Republican opposition that refused any sort of cooperation, and the rise of a populist anti-government Tea Party.
In this landmark series by Norma Percy, Brian Lapping and Paul Mitchell, four one-hour programmes look at how he brought America out of the Great Recession; how his triumphant reform of America’s healthcare system was followed by defeat at the polls at the hands of the Tea Party; the failure to close Guantanamo, the Arab Spring and the inside story of the secret nuclear negotiations with Iran; the struggle for gun control and his response to the racial unrest of Ferguson.
With unprecedented access and contribution from a number of key players within the administration, Inside Obama’s White House captures key moments when policy was made.
Jonathan Freedland is a weekly columnist and writer for the Guardian. A former Washington correspondent who has covered every US presidential election since 1992, he is also a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and presents BBC Radio 4’s contemporary history series, The Long View. In 2014 he was awarded the Orwell special prize for journalism. He has also published eight books including six bestselling thrillers, the latest being The 3rd Woman. He tweets @freedland.
Producer/Director: Paul Mitchell
Executive Producer: Brian Lapping
Series Producer: Norma Percy
Country: United Kingdom/USA
Runtime: 60′
It was standing room only as an energetic audience gathered for the Frontline Club’s monthly showpiece First Wednesday. Chaired by the BBC’s ever exuberant Paddy O’Connell, a panel of political experts and commentators tackled the state of play as the US gears up for the Presidential election on 6 November.
Following Mitt Romney’s controversial response to the attacks on the US missions in Egypt and Libya, proceedings opened with an inspection of the candidates’ foreign policy credentials. The speakers discussed his British blunder when he suggested London was unprepared for the 2012 Olympics and his strong rhetoric over Russia. Referring to the latest Romneyshambles, Channel 4 News’ Felicity Spector argued that foreign policy is one of the incumbent’s strengths:
“This could be just the kind of incident that changes people’s minds. … One of the criticisms that Obama brought forward at his convention speech is that Mitt Romney’s very inexperienced at foreign policy. Obama’s had those four years in the White House, taking those 3 am calls making difficult decisions. He now feels that he’s allowed to make that kind of criticism.”
Alex Spillius of the Daily Telegraph suggested that foreign policy could prove decisive come November:
“It was meant to be an economy election but because the race is so tight small factors could make a key difference and Romney’s messing up foreign policy. I don’t think he’s got the measure of how to deliver his policy yet. Obama killed Osama and that’s a huge score.”
The panel agreed that the state of the American economy is of utmost importance for the majority of American voters. Stacy Hilliard, former vice chairman of Republicans Abroad UK stated that the Obama camp is attempting to avoid discussion of economic policy.
“I saw the Democratic convention and it sounded like a Baptist revival. They were talking about issues that people don’t talk about when they go to the polls. The fact that they don’t talk about the economy suggests that they’re afraid to. Every person who spoke talked about abortion.”
Chair of Democrats Abroad UK Robert Carolina responded with a staunch defence of Obama’s economic legacy.
“The United States’ auto-industry was saved by government intervention. That was a tremendously good investment that helped to save the economy and save Detroit, Chrysler and General Motors. Let’s not forget that half of the entire debt is attributable to over spending by George W. Bush.”
Yet this message has proved difficult to sell to the electorate in the past and the panel agreed that this is the main worry for the President.
As the evening progressed, an engaged audience opened debate on specific battles that will be fought over the next 8 weeks, including immigration, socio-cultural issues including gay marriage, rape, race and religion. However the panel came full circle and agreed that it will most likely be economic policy that will secure the next President his place in the Oval Office.
Watch the full debate here:
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Once a year, the world’s leaders descend on New York for the UN’s blue ribbon event, the cumbersomely-titled UN General Assembly’s General Debate.
This year, the build-up has been dominated by the Palestinian Authority’s planned bid to become the 194th member of the UN, following South Sudan’s incorporation earlier in the year.
Notwithstanding any last minute deals, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will personally submit the application to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday, September 23, after Abbas has delivered his speech to assembled leaders.
Indeed, Friday’s session is set to be a cracker, since it also features Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s speech, in which he must surely address the issue. And yet while the Palestinian membership-issue is grabbing all the headlines, there’s plenty of other highlights.
Ahead of the formal UNGA opening today, there was a high-level meeting on Libya yesterday, the first since the UN formally recognised the Transitional National Council as the official representative of Libya last Friday.
US President Barack Obama met privately for the first time with TNC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil, and held separate summits with President Hamid Karzai before he returned to Aghanistan to join the mourning of the assassinated leader Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Tuesday also saw French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe host a ministerial-level meeting of the so-called Deauville Partnership, a G20-offshoot dedicated to supporting fledgling Arab democracies.
The Debate kicks off today with an address by the Brazilian President, the first for Dilma Rousseff since she took office in January and no doubt a welcome relief from domestic troubles.
A notable absence, though, is Russian leader Dmitry Mevedev, who has chosen to delegate responsibilities this year to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
In the afternoon South Africa’s Jacob Zuma will be speaking. On Thursday morning, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gives his traditionally polemical speech (who can forget last year, when he alluded to the 9/11 attacks being a conspiracy). British Prime Minister David Cameron also speaks that session.
Highlights from the afternoon session on Thursday include an inaugural address by newly-elected Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, an address from ageing despot Robert Mugabe, and also remarks from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose star is in the ascendancy amid Turkey’s role in the Arab Spring.
On the sidelines that day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is hosting a UN High-Level Meeting on Nuclear Safety and Security, likely to focus significantly on lessons to be learned from the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant back in March. Friday, as we’ve seen, is all about the Palestinian-membership issue.
But in the morning there is also a first-time address from new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda , who is expected to put in appearance also at the nuclear safety meeting. That afternoon South Sudanese President Salva Kiir – who meets one on one with President Obama earlier in the week – will give his country’s address for the first time since it became member number 193 last July
Sadly, one of the traditionally more entertaining speakers – Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez – is not expected to make the journey to New York this time, as he is recovering from a fourth round of chemotherapy for cancer discovered earlier in the year.
]]>By Nicole Hunt
This week is filled with high-profile trials and judgements around the world, kicking off on Monday with six big-name hearings, including several former world leaders: ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his sons and former Interior Minister Habib Al Adly are all on trial over protester deaths in Cairo; former French President Jacques Chirac’s corruption trial resumes in Paris; former Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde’s trial for negligence over the country’s banking collapse starts in Reykjavik; former Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa’s ‘Patria’ corruption trial begins in Ljubljana; Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire goes on trial in Kigali for promoting genocide; and Sizwe Mankazana, who was driving the car which crashed and killed Nelson Mandela’s great-granddaugther on the eve of last year’s World Cup faces the court in Johannesburg.
The focus is on austerity in Europe on Tuesday, as Italy braces for a general strike over debt-cutting measures proposed by Silvio Berlusconi’s government.
In Berlin, the German government begins a four-day debate of its 2012 budget. Wednesday’s general debate with Chancellor Angela Merkel coincides with the country’s Contitutional Court’s decision on a constitutional challenge to a May 2010 law guaranteeing the maintenance of Greece’s financial stability and solvency, authorising up to €22.4bn in loans.
In Algiers, the Algerian government hosts a two-day conferennce on regional security, focusing on the threat from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Back to the Paris courts on Thursday, where the verdict is expected in the trial of disgraced fashion designer John Galliano, who is accused of hurling anti-Semitic abuse at a member of the public in February.
Meanwhile, a hearing is scheduled to formalise the extradition of former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, who was convicted of money laundering last summer and sentenced to seven years in prison. He is expected to be sent back to Panama, where he has been sentenced in absentia to 60 years in prison for human rights violations committed between 1983 and 1989.
G7 Finance Ministers begin a two-day meeting in Marseille on Friday. Officials from the EU, IMF and World Bank also attend to discuss issues ahead of the IMF/World Bank annual autumn meetings later this month.
The Rugby World Cup kicks off in Auckland with New Zealand v Tonga. The tournament runs until 23, October.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou delivers his annual economic address at the Thessaloniki Trade Fair on Saturday. Unions and activists plan to hold demonstrations outside the fair, protesting against the government’s austerity measures.
Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the 11 September, 2001 attacks on the United States. President Barack Obama and former President George W Bush are among those attending a memorial service at Ground Zero, which begins at 8:40am EDT to mark the time the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Centre.
While all eyes are on the US, Guatemalans will quietly elect a new President. A planned bid by Sandra Torres, ex-wife of current President Alvaro Colom, was ruled unconstitutional. The couple divorced to enable Torres to run, hoping to circumvent a law that ruled the President’s spouse ineligible.
]]>Every year, the 34 presidents of the America’s get together for a high level chinwag. Speeches are made. Dinners scoffed. And, back in good old GW’s day, protests would be held.
But the arrival of Obama in the White House has thrown more than one Latin American leader into a spin. For more years than the average voter cares to remember, the mighty USA has played the role of imperialist poster child for the region’s populist leaders.
If you’re poor, it’s because the Yanquis exploited your natural resources. If you’re worried about global terror, it’s because of “Mr. Danger” (as Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez liked to call Obama;’s predecessor) and his neo-cons in the White House. If your wages are lousy, it’s the fault of NAFTA, CAFTA or the bilateral trade agreement of the day. If short, anything and everything is the fault of the bullying big brother up North.
The Obama era makes that argument harder to sustain. Cuba’s Fidel Castro, the man who owes more to nemeses in Washington DC than anyone, went as far as to argue that the US electorate would never elect a black man. They did. Now he says that Obama might have “good intentions” but the "Empire is much stronger than him".
A cross-party Congressional delegation is currently in Havana looking to smooth the cracks of nearly half-a-century of bilateral acrimony.
Likewise, Chávez has had to rethink his strategy. A cooling towards the USA seems to be taking place in Caracas. The Venezuelan premier went as far as to say that he’s willing to press the “reset” button on US-Venezuelan relations. This is the man who claims the FBI is obsessed with masterminding his assassination.
The situation in Bolivia remains less clear. Evo Morales threw out the US ambassador last year, accusing him of spying. That’s the diplomatic version of telling a country to ‘Go F*** Itself’. Not an easy one to come back from, even with a change of officeholder.
As for the rest of the region, presidents are toppling over themselves for a photo op with Obama. Brazil’s Lula da Silva got there first, all smiles for the camera during a recent visit to Washington.
Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner meanwhile was (I’m reliably informed by a first-hand witness) hopping round the room like a schoolgirl when Obama phoned her soon after his election. They discussed Borges. And Kirchner told him he reminded her of General Perón. From a self-styled Evita, that’s flattery personified.
The presidents of Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and most of Central America (notably minus Nicaragua) are long-standing chums of the US, whoever’s in power. They too will be in the queue for a private audience at next week’s Summit of the America.
For all the attention that he’s generating here in Latin America, Obama has remained fairly silent so far on Latin American affairs. Expect Venezuela and Cuba to dominate the media’s attention. But the significance of the Trinidad meeting will all be about building bridges in the corridors. As well as the photos ops, of course.
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This car dealership in central Mexico City has a name that almost everyone will recognize.
But don’t accuse the owners of trying to cash in on the popularity of soon-to-be-President Barack Obama. According to showroom staff, the dealership has been called Fiat Obama since 2006, long before Obama’s historic triumph. Why the name? “Obama” is from the name of the shop’s owner, Oñate Baron Mario. Combine the first syllables and you get Obama.
A lucky coincidence, it appears. But could it help move cars off the lot in Mexico, where auto sales are dropping?
See more photos here on Flickr.
Photos: Deborah Bonello / Los Angeles Times
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