{"id":10444,"date":"2019-04-17T11:18:15","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T09:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.esmt.org\/degree-programs\/?p=10444"},"modified":"2019-10-30T14:39:38","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T12:39:38","slug":"president-obama-at-esmt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.esmt.berlin\/voices\/president-obama-at-esmt\/","title":{"rendered":"Action and compromise: What I’ve learned from President Obama’s town hall at ESMT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Shan<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Along with several other ESMT Berlin\nstudents, Shan Qiao attended the Obama Foundation Town Hall Europe with\nPresident Obama at ESMT on April 6. In this blog post, she shares her thoughts\nand experiences.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When then-presidential candidate Barack Obama visited Berlin\nin 2008 for the first time and gave a speech in front of the Victory Column, I\nwas just over 20 years old. I remember watching that speech live on TV. I was probably\nas enthusiastic as the tens of thousands of people that were there cheering and\nshouting the famous campaign slogan \u201cYes, we can!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I almost\nfelt like I did 11 years ago when President Obama walked onto the stage at my\nhome university ESMT Berlin on Saturday. I was sitting in the front row, having\nthe privilege to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event in person. The crowd in\nthe lecture hall was cheering. Everyone was excited and looking forward to the\nthings to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in\n2008, people imagined that once Obama had been elected the world would somehow\ndramatically change for the better \u2013 overnight. The culmination of these high\nhopes was the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, shortly after\nhe started his first term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"President<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In hindsight,\nit is obvious that no one could live up to such high expectations. And\nPresident Obama has since been criticized for not delivering on all of his\ncampaign promises. Despite the excitement ringing out throughout the halls of\nESMT, I think we all were more sober than the crowd of 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of compromise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Radical changes just don\u2019t happen overnight \u2013 or even within four or\neight years for that matter. At least not the kind of changes we would like to\nsee. In his town hall speech at ESMT, President Obama reminded us that \u201cwhen you start trying to radically change things quickly,\nthe track record has not been great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, I think we should be grateful that\nour societies are organized in a way that people with different opinions are\nable to express them and be heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to recognize that the way we\nstructure democracy requires you to take into account people who don’t agree\nwith you,\u201d the President said. \u201cThat by definition means you\u2019re not going to\nget 100 percent of what you want.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pointing to examples like his passing of the Affordable Care Act and\nthe Paris Climate Agreement, President Obama stressed the importance of\ncompromise in making progress within a democracy among citizens who don’t agree\nwith a given policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Full<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I think the\nvalue of compromise is often underestimated. Of course, it means that you, or\nthe representatives you elected will not reach each and every goal on their\nagenda. But it also means that no one can impose their ideas, which you might\nnot agree with, entirely on you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Being open\nto compromise, however, doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t be politically active and\ncomplacent about the future you desire. Quite the contrary \u2013 the President\nurged us young people to stand up and fight on behalf of our generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou would not let your grandfather or\ngrandmother decide what clothes you wear or what music you listen to,\u201d he said.\n\u201cSo why would you let them decide the world you’re going to live in and the\npolitics that you’re going to be subjected to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was particularly\nimpressed that President Obama explicitly discussed the \u201cFridays for Future\u201d\nmovement \u2013 these thousands of people protesting all across Europe, calling for\nambitious action on climate change. Some German politicians have ridiculed the\nmovement, saying that such matters are for professionals to sort out, not for\nchildren running in the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of those people can\u2019t vote, they\u2019re\ntoo young to vote yet,\u201d the President said. \u201cBut they know what\u2019s going on and\nthey’re making change. Those habits and that sense of power that they’re\ndeveloping now is going to carry over for the rest of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It felt good to hear the President is taking\nthe concerns of the young generation very seriously and actually trusts and\nencourages us to take matters into our own hands. That is \u2013 unfortunately \u2013\nsomething you rarely hear from politicians these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would like to thank President Obama for\nsharing his inspirational thoughts. I hope the other people attending the event\nand those watching via the internet are as inspired as I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo credits: The Obama Foundation<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/span> 4<\/span> min read<\/span><\/span> Along with several other ESMT Berlin students, Shan Qiao attended the Obama Foundation Town Hall Europe with President Obama at ESMT on April 6. In this blog post, she shares her thoughts and experiences.?<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":10532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[728,258],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1663],"class_list":["post-10444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-mba"],"yoast_head":"\nAction and compromise: What I've learned from President Obama's town hall at ESMT | ESMT Berlin Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ESMT Berlin student Shan Qiao attended the Obama Foundation Town Hall Europe with President Obama at ESMT on April 6.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.esmt.berlin\/voices\/president-obama-at-esmt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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