Barack Obama- The Public Diplomat
In recent years , the way of conducting politics has changed dramatically. Non- state actors became increasingly important in the political community. What is more, state actors learnt how to take advantage of modern means of influencing and communicating with audiences. Hence, I am going to present the case of Barack Obama as a symbol of successful modern politician and public diplomat.
Barack Obama is considered to be the best public diplomat since Benjamin Franklin. He is the reflection of best qualities of America, highly appreciated in the world. These are: intelligence and energy, essence of freedom. Obama is the kind of President who pays extreme attention on consolidating the nation as well as, cooperation with international partners and leaders and representatives of extremist regimes. Therefore, negotiations and meeting with difficult political figures, sometimes considered as enemies, are one of the goals on Obama’s agenda. The biggest problem of the USA, at the beginning of Obama’s presidency, was the state’s relationship with the world. Thus, he gave one of his first interviews Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV. The 10-minute interview was an impressive accomplishment. Hisham Melham, who was the interviewer, said that the success was basically achieved thanks to the manner that Obama was expressing his opinions an addressing the audience: ‘it was in the tone…I think he was trying to undermine those who were trying to demonize the United States and demonize him personally, and I think he succeeded when he spoke in a humane voice telling them “members of my family also belong to the Muslim faith”… and I think he [will] disarm a lot of people… [When] he spoke about the humanity of both sides (Israeli and Palestinian)… the average viewers felt that there was an authenticity in his voice, there was a different tone, there was a yearning for a new page’
I also have to mention the way that Obama’s presidency campaign was conducted. It was definitely thanks to the fact that Barack Obama mastered and understood the impact of mass media. He combaing the traditional media with the modern ones: videos on You Tube- ‘Obama girl’, ‘Yes we can’, facebook and tweeter profile. He also employed many young people to work on improvement of his campaign. Thanks to these ideas, he gained amazing popularity in all age groups of constituency.
Afterwards, he profited from this popularity and a kind of ‘celebrity status’ to change the image of America. He organized several trips to Europe, Trinidad, Ghana, Latin America, Asia etc. His attitude towards uniting nations made him the the Nobel Peace Prize winner in October 2009. Obama’s meeting with controversial political leaders draw attention of media throughout the world.
It is argued that Obama’s diplomacy activities do not offer major changes in policies but are rather of symbolic meaning. However, his approach and engagement gives hope, help to share ideas and ambitions, establish friendships and respect as well as, gives rise to common dreams. Public diplomacy conducted by Obama will not ensures salvation to the world and everlasting peace but definitely is a good beginning towards unity among nations.
Bibliography:
Kellner Douglas, ‘Celebrity diplomacy, spectacle and Barack Obama’, Celebrity Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 2010,
O’HANLON MICHAEL, ‘Obama as Diplomat in Chief ‘, The Wallstreet Journal, February 14, 2008
Seib Philip, ‘Connecting Public Diplomacy and Policy’, Perspectives, Vol. II Issue 3, March 2010
Public and Cultural Diplomacy 2 
although you are right in presenting President Obama as a breath of fresh air in an overly asfixiating political environment that is characteristic in todays politics. when critically looking at the changes that have really reshaped American politics they seem to be still an echoing of the same prespectives that of hard power more then soft power.