Neil's Spotlight Former Hawaii journalist offers unique world perspective on Inauguration Day
December 24, 2008
Susan Manuel, a former Hawaii journalist, currently works at the United Nations. She will be attending the upcoming Presidential Inauguration and shares a world view on the event-- a view that draws from her decade traveling around the world on UN peacekeeping missions.
"I work for the United Nations on peacekeeping issues. I've worked for the UN since leaving Hawaii in 1990, where I was a reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin during the previous decade. I then spent 10 years in various countries around the world on UN peacekeeping missions. It was a bit strange being an American in an international organization: people from war-torn countries accord you a certain amount of awe, mixed with either resentment or possibility. Western colleagues think you're a spy.
"With the Obama victory, there was a sweeping wash of joyful, hopeful and generous emotion coming from international friends and colleagues here and around the world that was indescribable. A colleague in Chad reported people were staying up all night to follow the elections. Friends from the Balkans told me they cried at the news. The morning after the election, I passed two young Africans on the sidewalk, one telling another, "this is going to change the world."
"At the UN, people feel that perhaps our work will no longer be seen (by Americans) as stealing billions, flying black helicopters or plotting global taxation. I fell for Obama from the 2004 Democratic convention--for his intellect and his search for identity that he has managed to turn into a form of empathic leadership. Yet, I hope he does not try to be all things to all people, but stands up for the values we believe he represents. I'm ecstatic to be coming to Washington, D.C. for this historic event!" -- Susan Manuel, New York, New York. Susan serves as Chief, Peace and Security Section in the UN's Department of Public Information.
Susan Manuel (photo immediately below) was UN spokeswoman in Kosovo, on the day after 9/11 when Kosovars gathered silently in the thousands. (Photos courtesy of Susan Manuel)
