Barak Obama Delivers a Speech at the Niarchos Cultural Centre in Athens, Greece

His last speech on foreign soil as President of the US.
Labelled "remarks" by the White House PR team, the speech was mostly about democracy (after all, a Greek word - and an Athenian invention) and equality.

So I listened to it.

Unsurprisingly, it was very well delivered - President Obama is a master of public speaking; expressive, simple, always with a touch of humour and accessible, friendly.

As to the content, it was in a word, simple as well. It was an excellent speech to motivate youth; I would have liked my son to be there, not only for the thrill of listening to the President of the US speak to you but also because what he says is easy to grasp and that makes youth feel they have communicated, albeit remotely, with an important personality of human history.

In all its simplicity, the speech did have some somewhat daring highlights. For one, Barak Obama did say that politicians know there are things to do - but they lack the political courage to implement them; he also mentioned that investment flow into countries that make things easier for investors - manifestly not the case of Greece at present, for example. On another plain, he did suggest that democracies do not move forward in a linear manner, but sometimes move backward in order to move forward again. And he did not forget to mention that, in a democracy all people are created equal regardless of their differences (which differences, especially economy-related, are exacerbated by the effects of global access to information). The latter may be a diplomatic reference to his successor, who extolled different ideals during his campaign.

Interestingly, he called the European Union one of the "most important political achievements of the 20th century". The audience clapped (the euro-confused Greek government remained silent, fortunately.)

President Obama also pointed out (in more diplomatic terms) that democracy is a global, historical and powerful brand name, older than Christianity itself, invented and first implemented in (ancient) Athens. So Athens is the cradle of democracy, a fact that, presumably, many Greeks and most Greek politicians are happy to forget.

Other than the personal interest of the President, one wonders what the purpose of this visit was. It certainly offered Greece another 15 mins of fame, positive fame this time round. From another standpoint, that of the citizen, his presence and his speeches did make people proud. So in all, Greece reaped psychological benefit. Which, in a sense, is non negligible.




President Obama at the Acropolis of Athens, 16th November 2016 (photo from the White House)


And for all its simplicity, his remarks had a positive effect on many people, not only those present at the Niarchos Foundation. For that too, people in Greece are grateful.
In a nutshell, it would seem that the US President made Greeks a present: the last visit of the first non white President of the United States of America, was in Greece. And that is now a part of history.

Let's hope he enjoyed the visit as well!