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C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 000142 
 
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2019 
TAGS: KPAO PGOV PHUM PINR PREL AR
SUBJECT: (C) ARGENTINA: CFK'S STREAM-OF-CONSCIOUSNESS ON PRESIDENT OBAMA 
 
REF: A. 08 BUENOS AIRES 1539 
     ¶B. BUENOS AIRES 0107 
 
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Introduction 
------------ 
 
¶1. (C) Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner 
(CFK) has made a series of positive comments about 
President Obama dating from last August.  CFK's words 
signal that she hopes to turn a new page in bilateral 
relations and reflect genuine admiration for our new 
president and the process that brought him to power.  In 
her most recent comments, CFK is also likely trying to 
offset any negative effects of her presence in Cuba and 
Venezuela during President Obama's inauguration and first 
days in office.  In domestic political terms, CFK may also 
be seeking to garner a bit of the shine being given off by 
President Obama (who has a much more positive image in 
Argentina than CFK does at the moment).  A number of her 
recent comments have drawn comparisons between President 
Obama and herself, her husband, Nestor Kirchner (NK), and 
even the policies of Juan Peron.  Those comparisons also 
underscore the Argentina-centric views of the world with 
which CFK (and her husband) views the United States. 
 
¶2. (C) Nevertheless, it has been clear for months that CFK 
has been hoping that her administration could get off to a 
new start with the new U.S. Administration.  She keenly 
observed the U.S. presidential election race, and she 
continues to speak often of the importance for the United 
States and the world of President Obama's election.  CFK 
told the Ambassador that she and her husband, former 
President Nestor Kirchner (NK), spent many evenings in 
their Olivos residence watching television coverage of and 
sharing observations about the race, from the Iowa caucuses 
through the party conventions and the subsequent months of 
campaigning.  While CFK was an early supporter of Hillary 
Rodham Clinton's candidacy, it took her little time to 
notice President Obama's skills on the campaign trail, the 
way in which his campaign used the internet, and his appeal 
to younger voters.  With his election, that interest 
morphed into something more intense, and has continued to 
intensify since the inauguration.  End introduction. 
 
¶2. (U) A selection of CFK's public comments about candidate 
and President Obama follow.  We've also included a brand- 
new comment by Nestor, her political partner and the 
government's grand strategist: 
 
-- August, 2008: ""Today, our relationship with the U.S. is, 
as usual, normal and serious, just as our relationship with 
every country in the world should be...the fact that an 
African-American runs for U.S. President, like Senator 
Obama, someone who has really taken me by surprise due to 
his speech and his really quite different approach to 
subjects, really reveals an open-minded American society 
and a truly surprising and admirable vitality in a country 
in which 40 or 50 years ago an African-American leader 
could be killed or (where) he was not able to share 
schools, buses, or public places with white-skinned 
people."" (Press conference, August 2008.)"" 
 
-- August, 2008: ""First and foremost, the cycle that just 
opened in your (CNN reporter who asked first question) 
country is a big milestone in one of the most exhilarating 
epochs in history, the fight against discrimination and for 
equal opportunities."" (Press conference, August 2008.) 
 
-- November, 2008, following a call from President-elect 
Obama: ""He (Obama) told me that he wanted very much to meet 
me and visit Buenos Aires because during his university 
career he read Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortazar.  So I 
took the opportunity and invited him to visit us."" 
(Discussion with reporters during November 2008 tour of the 
Maghreb.) 
 
-- November, 2008: ""Yesterday, I listened to U.S. 
President-elect Barack Obama, who was kind enough to call 
me to greet me when I was in Tunis.  I heard the President 
of the most important country and economy in the world, 
where the (economic) crisis was born, about his plans to 
tackle the crisis, and I heard him speak about rebuilding 
schools, building bridges and houses.  He sounded just like 
the Kirchner of 2003, when he went out to the province of 
Buenos Aires saying what we should do in terms of 
infrastructure in order to reactivate the economy.  And I 
also recalled how some laughed at us; perhaps when the U.S. 
President says those things, he may sound more glamorous or 
E 
 
those things become more important.  However, the truth is 
that they are talking about something we proposed as one of 
the basic tools to reach the economic reactivation..."" 
(November 2008, after returning from Maghreb tour.) 
 
-- November, 2008: ""Many will congratulate you for 
successfully interpreting the dreams and hopes of the 
American people.  I wish to join in those well-deserved 
expressions of admiration... It is no doubt a time of great 
joy and yet we must remember those men and women who made 
the greatest sacrifice in the fight for a society of 
equals, by giving their own lives.  When I read the account 
of the lynching of three students in Mississippi, I 
recognized the feeling of community with the youths that 
were starting to rebel in our own country.  The same ages, 
the same generosity, the same tragedy.  Just as we pay 
homage to our companions fallen in that epic, I pay 
heartfelt tribute to those who paved the way for hope in 
your country. Such a communion of sacrifice and 
rebelliousness, of solidarity and respect for justice, is 
what you will find between my administration and your 
people, with the determination to advance relentlessly 
towards a fair and free world... 
 
We have a great opportunity to eradicate poverty, 
discrimination and inequality in our societies.  As you 
pointed out during your campaign, this requires more 
education, more health and more opportunities, and 
certainly more dialogue between the peoples and their 
leaders...I am sure that we can count on you and please be 
assured of my sincere friendship."" (Congratulatory letter 
to the President-Elect, November 2008). (Ref A) 
 
-- December, 2008: ""I do believe the blockade (of Cuba) 
will end up being reconsidered.  We have high hopes in the 
new Obama administration, and we expect him to take 
measures that will lower the historic level of 
confrontation with the island and this will surely bring 
the end of the blockade."" (Press conference at end of Latin 
American and Caribbean Summit, December 17, 2008.) 
 
-- January, 2009: ""It would be unreal if I did not refer to 
something that has occurred today, which is the first 
African-American President taking over in the country which 
turned out to be the first hegemonic power in the world 
following the fall of the Berlin Wall.  I should say that I 
believe that Barack Obama's speech today really confirms 
our positive expectations."" (January 20 speech at 
University of Havana.) 
 
-- January, 2009: ""As a matter of fact, when I listened to 
the new U.S. President Barack Obama, as I said in Havana, 
our good expectations of him were absolutely confirmed. 
When we hear from him that security is important but that 
principles, and therefore human rights, are more important 
and, as a consequence, they should not be subordinate to 
security, when we hear that they are going to build bridges 
and infrastructure that will lead to the growth of the U.S. 
economy, when we hear that the growth itself is not enough 
to improve the standard of living of regular people, and as 
if all this were not enough, that the world has changed and 
that we should change with it, this does nothing but 
reaffirm the road that we have chosen ever since 2003...I 
would say that for an African-American to be elected U.S. 
President many things had to happen in the world and in the 
United States, and that perhaps for an awkward youth to be 
elected Argentine President in 2003 many other things had 
also occurred in Argentina, because history is not made up 
only of chances, but is based on causality.Many things have 
happened for a lanky youth (i.e., Nestor Kirchner) to reach 
the Argentine presidency and for an African-American to reach 
the White House."" (January 28 remarks after returning from 
visit to Cuba and Venezuela.) 
 
-- February, 2009: ""When the other day I hear the President 
of the most powerful country in the world say that trade 
unions are not part of the problem but part of the solution 
and that he also wants big and prosperous trade unions 
along with big and prosperous corporations, I do not know 
if Obama read Peron, but let me tell you it looks like it. 
As a matter of fact, you know, I said it the other day in 
Havana - I have high expectations, just like everyone else 
in almost all the world, in the decisions to be made by the 
first U.S. African-American President.""  (February 5, 2009 
remarks at signing of agreement with Aerolineas Argentina 
workers.) 
 
-- February, 2009: ""Such a big fuss was raised when I said 
that in Buenos Aires (about the parallels between Peron and 
 
Obama).  Sincerely, when I hear things from Obama, like his 
wanting to make strong, prosperous labor unions part of the 
solution, or that the market generates wealth but needs to 
be supervised and controlled; or when he talks about the 
role of the state in security, health, or education, it 
seems to me, like I said half in jest and half seriously, 
that Obama must have read Peron."" (Press conference in 
Madrid, February 9, 2009) 
 
-- February, 2009:  ""(President Obama) is implementing the 
same policies we have been carrying out since 2003.  Obama 
must rebuild the United States, which fell because of the 
influence of neo-liberal policies and the Washington 
Consensus.  We sincerely hope that things go well for Obama 
...for the sake of the United States and for the world as 
well.  ... If Argentina is struggling against the effects 
of the crisis, it's because we've been disciplined, 
meticulous, but we're suffering the consequences of an 
unprecedented crisis.""  (February 10: Nestor Kirchner 
speaking at political rally.) 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶3. (C) While both CFK and Nestor have regularly made 
comments critical of various aspects U.S. policy, CFK's 
effusive statements about our new president seem to reflect 
genuine admiration, and it seems likely that her positive 
statements about Obama reflect a fervent hope that some of 
his stardust will fall on her governance.  The Kirchners 
apparently do not see a contradiction between critical 
comments -- such as their constant railing against a 
caricature version of the ""Washington Consensus,"" which 
they blame for most of the world's economic problems, and 
their professed admiration for President Obama.  CFK can 
therefore be expected to utter further unpleasantries 
especially about past flawed U.S. economic governance and 
the international economic superstructure, even as she 
continues to hope for further contact and collaboration 
with the new U.S. President. 
WAYNE