Obama's Commonwealth Mindset

The one thing that struck me at London's G20 meeting on April 2 -- which for us at GMT+3 somehow ended no sooner than it had begun -- was that President Obama has a Commonwealth mindset. There had been escalating hints of this all through the last two years, to be sure, but the press conference he held last night capped all that. I think the Queen sensed this most strongly when she, and the Duke, hosted a private tea for the Obama's at the Buckingham Palace.

I think that, because of the Queen's and Obama's unique and unifying presence(s), G20 has, through its leaders (and the millions of viewers who caught glimpses of the goings-on in London via TV), all of a sudden morphed into what must surely become a Global Commonwealth. I think that, by the same token, the Queen and Michelle consecrated this turn in the road with all that surround-groove they got into in front of everyone present at the palace the other night. It was all spontaneous and mutual, of course, the Queen's press detail later said of the super-touchy moment beamed around the world [click here for story and pics].

Happy to see the Queen so happy, as she approaches her 83rd(?) birthday -- so soon? The lady is forever young, and Michelle was there to let it all show through.

But why Michelle? Let's just venture to say that Michelle represented an unabashedly touchable Kenyan (not to say American) connection which the Queen found (in a double-loop sort of way) very, very touching -- herself having become Queen, upon a tree, right here in Kenya (and her ancestors having ruled Michelle Obama's America, causing Michelle's own ancestors, but not as much Obama's, unspeakable pain). Michelle, in reciprocally and symbolically "touching" the Queen (as Mother or Sister and friend), set off that loop in a glorious perpetual motion. She presented a unique opportunity for the Queen to spontaneously and publicly express what she deeply felt, an opportunity which she perhaps has never really had, and which she seized because she did not want it to pass (protocol or no protocol).

I have digressed somewhat, perhaps. I had simply wanted to remark upon what really, really struck me at G20, witnessed from afar, as Obama's commonwealth mindset. But there is a very complex threading of history and memory and circumstance in all this stuff, the telling of which is, like the Queen's urge, irresistible. And it all makes me tell myself, and my wife: if you think you have seen everything, then, wait for the next thing -- as long as you have the health.

So the journalists spontaneously cheered Obama with a standing ovation, eh, at the end of that press conference? They were cheering that mindset, and so cheering the future of this world.


ps: Take a look at this farcical, hilarious, convoluted rendition of the above blog post from http://wikipediaobamawindows.blogder.com/: Click here