Who would have wanted to meet Barack Obama if he could time travel? Jesus, it turns out, and Abraham Lincoln, a leader who had to hold a country together during a bloody civil war. This requires, the former American president said on Sunday evening in a stage discussion at the investment and technology fair FTI Supernova in Puurs, “that you are generous to your opponents even in the middle of the civil war”. That was one of the first of his many implicit jabs at Donald Trump, who even belittles and insults his opponents in his own party. Obama often subtly referred to Trump without mentioning him, such as when he said that “leadership involves having a vision. Too many people think it means: everyone has to do what I say.”
Mild disappointment
Generosity will be needed in the coming years, Obama said. Because: “People whose political beliefs I despise” are on the rise. The far right is strong in both the US and Europe, according to the former president. Principles such as human rights, freedom of expression and pluralism “are under threat on both sides of the Atlantic.”
He also lectured us Europeans a bit. After a long history of bloodshed and conflict in Europe, the continent has enjoyed remarkable peace and relative prosperity in recent decades. “And yet people complain. Maybe you should read your own history a bit.”
Obama thus showed, not for the first time, a gentle disappointment at how unruly reality has proven to be since 2008. Then the 47-year-old senator was elected as president who epitomized hope, change and the promise of a post-racial America. “I felt an obligation to mold America in a way that reflected my own reality,” Obama said Sunday evening. In early 2017, he had to hand over the torch to Donald Trump, a businessman and reality star who exploited racial and economic resentment and turned the Republican Party into a populist campaign vehicle.
It was one of the relatively rare moments where the conversation, in which Obama would explain his ‘personal vision for the future’, according to organizer and moderator Jürgen Ingels, went into depth. Since his resignation, the ex-president has spent a significant part of his time on the international lecture circuit. There he can collect up to several hundred thousand euros for a lecture, such as Sunday’s in a large event hall along the A12 highway in Puurs.
Smooth talk
It became a smooth talk full of soft questions – did Obama prefer a “museum or a concert?” and had he learned many lessons from his presidency that were useful to entrepreneurs?—to several thousand businessmen, lawyers and local celebrities. “Obama is an additional gift to the people and companies” who came to the SuperNova trade show, Ingels said.
Halfway through the conversation the tone became serious for a moment. Obama now also lashed out more explicitly at “his successor”. Talking about the importance of “having a good story” to convince people, he said: “The emerging far-right politicians in Europe and the US, including my successor, are strong storytellers. The story they tell is bad and leads to the abyss, but they know how to tell it. They know how to instill fear, resentment and anger and how to appeal to people who are struggling with a rapidly changing world.”
Disruptive AI
At the tech fair, Obama sang the praises of the many immigrants from Europe and Asia who made the American economy flourish with their innovations. “We have always benefited from immigration. And so it is ironic that both my predecessor (George W. Bush, after 9/11) and my successor were happy to send or send the message: we don’t want you anymore! They chase away so much talent.”
He also supported his Vice President and current President Joe Biden. It is fiercely criticized because of the rising inflation in the US. “But inflation has remained manageable. While it could also have resulted in the opposite scenario: an economic depression.” According to the ex-president, people do not realize enough how “resilient” the global economy has proven to be after a pandemic, an economic crisis “that you see once in a generation”.
Another upheaval is coming, Obama warned. “Many people do not fully realize how much impact artificial intelligence will have on all aspects of our lives.” AI will dramatically boost human productivity, “but it will also disrupt jobs at an unprecedented speed and scale.” He warned of a “winner takes all economy” with a bunch of talented winners, but also a lot of losers.
Even before AI creates new fortunes and financial ruins in Europe, Europeans must brace themselves for the dangers of a possible change of course in the US, Obama made clear. Asked about the future of European-American relations, he pointed to the campaign for the November presidential elections, in which he will fully support his friend Biden. “Ask me again in December. We will see.”
Obama did not have any earth-shattering insights on Sunday, but the audience seemed satisfied. In 2024, the ex-president no longer brings the aura of resolute hope and change, but enough celebrity brilliance and clever anecdotes that can go straight to LinkedIn to elicit a standing ovation from the audience along the A12.
