Foreign Policy Blogs

The Brazilian Barack Obama

The Guardian reports from Brazil:

“Welcome to Obama-mania, Brazil-style. Few countries have embraced the idea of the US's first black president as enthusiastically as Brazil, a country with one of the largest Afro-descendant populations on Earth yet where black faces remain a minority in politics. Obama T-shirts are everywhere while chat shows and newspaper columns are filled with talk of the 47-year-old Illinois senator.

Now even Brazil's politicians are lining up for their piece of the pie. Due to a quirk of Brazilian law, candidates are allowed to run under the name of their choice. As a result, at least six Brazilian politicians have officially renamed themselves “Barack Obama” in a bid to get an edge over their rivals in October's municipal elections.”

“In truth it was an accident,” says Belford Roxo's Obama, an IT consultant who is bidding to become the city's first black mayor. “I’d been on the television wearing a suit and people thought I looked a bit like him so they started calling me Barack Obama. They’d see me in the street and shout: ‘Hey! Barack!” So I decided to register it.”

…He admits he has also been looking to his namesake's speeches for inspiration. “I say the same things. I talk about political renewal, change, about transforming the city.”

Despite their similarities the two Obamas have yet to meet although the Brazilian Obama says that as mayor he would “extend an invitation” to the real Obama to dine in Belford Roxo. “It would be great if he could come and see our reality,” he beams. “Just imagine.”

Just imagine…

 

Author

Melinda Brouwer

Melinda Brower holds a Masters degree in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She received her bachelor's degree in Political Science and Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received a graduate diploma in International Relations from the University of Chile during her tenure as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. She has worked on Capitol Hill, at the State Department, for Foreign Policy magazine and the American Academy of Diplomacy. She presently works for an internationally focused non-profit research organization in Washington, DC.