Barack Obama’s visit to Vietnam has made for some attractive images of crowds lining the streets of Hanoi to cheer the leader of a power that was once a relentless foe, or of the United States president sitting on a plastic stool during a stop at a pavement restaurant to taste the local pork-and-noodle bun cha.
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Suboi wanted Obama to speak on the role of the arts in global relations. In Ho Chi Minh City, a relaxed president in his shirt-sleeves chatted with an auditorium full of young people about everything from his childhood to his future, giving local officials a lesson in winning hearts and minds.
The woman, named Suboi and renowned as Vietnam’s “queen of hip hop”, then serenaded Obama with Vietnamese lyrics about whether people are really happy if they have lots of money.
He also was notably general in his remarks, avoiding any specific detailing of Vietnam’s problems.
Earlier another young man began his question with: “Mr President, you’re so handsome”. Critics accused Washington of throwing away a powerful lever it had to press communist-ruled Vietnam for improvements in human rights.
Obama’s trip to Vietnam was a success, with a joint statement released on Monday, in which Vietnam and the US were committed to working together to advance the comprehensive partnership they established in 2013 in various fields.
The comparison between the state of human rights in the USA and those in this one-party Communist country that still holds political prisoners and censors news broadcasts seems to be a bit of a stretch, but Obama told the crowd that no country is ideal.
“American academic and technological leaders, including Intel, Oracle, Arizona State University and others, will help Vietnamese universities boost training in science, technology, engineering and math”, the president said.
“That was pretty good”, said Obama. Vietnam is acutely vulnerable to climate change and environmental causes have been the focus of numerous protests against the authorities, especially among young people.
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“Economic development and the well-being and the health of your people and everyone around the world is going to depend on how we deal with some of these environmental issues”, said Obama during a town hall meeting here with hundreds of young Vietnamese.
