Once a generation, it seems, there comes an international alliance between two world leaders that goes beyond mere political handshaking. Roosevelt and Churchill, Reagan and Thatcher, and Obama and Merkel. Claudia Clark's new book Dear Barack: The Extraordinary Partnership of Barack Obama and Angela Merkel takes a closer look at what caused President Obama and Chancellor Merkel's relationship to verge into friendship territory.
There's a line toward the end of the book that really sums things up nicely, at least for me. On page 210, Clark writes, "While plenty of world leaders ... had talked about supporting Obama, Merkel had actually done it."
And vice versa.
Clark's book takes us through all the visits and joint press conferences between Obama and Merkel, looking at how their body language toward each other changed over the years and the words they used for each other developed. Merkel eventually ended up calling Obama "lieber Barack" or "dear Barack". The book goes into the challenges that each leader faced both in their home nations as well as on the world stage. And how when each of them needed support the most, they were there for each other, despite their difference of opinion.
If you ever wanted to know what made the Obama-Merkel relationship so strong that SNL lampooned it, then this book offers you answers. The book also challenges future leaders to live up to the standard set by Obama and Merkel.
I didn't really know much about Angela Merkel before reading this book, but now I'm intrigued and want to read more about her!
Dear Barack is published by Disruption Books and is available to purchase now. I received a free review copy.
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