Hello Obama in Turkey Music Video

Hello Obama in Turkey Music Video

After months of anticipation – and everyone talking to me about it – Barak Obama has arrived in Turkey.

The fanfare here is out of this world. Every television station has Obama on it or people talking about Obama, every newspaper has his half black face all over it, and the Turkish people are cheering “Obama!”

I think people like this guy.

“Where you from?” I am asked dozens of time a day.

“America,” I answer.

“OBAMA! Obama good!” comes the response amongst a sea of cheers.

This is the reception that Americans now get all over the world. I must say that it is a lot better than the sour puss grimaces that I use to receive when Mr. Bush was in office. I cannot say that I mind being an unwitting little Obama representative as I travel the world.

With Obama, my popularity has increased 10 fold. I almost wish I voted for the guy.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Sanliurfa, Turkey- April 7, 2009
Travelogue —Travel Photos –Travel Guide
Click on map to view route of travel.

To top the Obama celebrations here, a Turkish pop singer named Mustafa Topaloğlu wrote a song and made a music video to welcome the new American president to Turkey.

Mustafa Topaloğlu and Barak Obama

I saw this video a couple of days ago on a television in the lobby of the Hotel Ipek Palas. It is hilarious. The words to the song are basically “Hello, hello, hello, Obama, hello, welcome to the presidency, hello, Obama, hello, welcome to the presidency, hello, Obama, hello.”

Watch the Hello Obama video here

I went for a walk through the Sanliurfa market today and had about a dozen mini Obama conversations. I found a quiet spot where I could spy on a TV in a bookstore, and found Obama standing inside of a circle of Turkish children given an adress. I tried hard to listen to what he was saying beneath the Turkish translation, and found that his words sounded pretty good.

There is a reason why Obama is the most popular man on planet earth.

I listened to him talk about how Israeli and Palestinian mothers are the same, and many other words that sounded really good to hear. My observation was then interrupted by a man who ran an Islamic bookstore next to the one where I was watching the television. he gave me a small handful of small Islamic books and invited me into his shop for tea. I accepted his gift and his offer.

We talked about Obama. Go figure.

I eventually got him off that much worn topic and began showing me pictures of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, the author of the pamphlets that he gave me. I looked at the pictures and he told me how Bediuzzaman had traveled across Russia and defied the socialists. I can’t say I could blame him.

Man from Bediuzzaman bookstore who served me tea as I watched Obama speak on Turkish television.

I soon finished my tea and declined the offer of another glass. I said goodbye to the Bediuzzaman bookseller and made my way to the Saliurfa market, where I was greeted by cheers of “Obama!”

“Clinton: normal; Bush: bad; Obama: good,” a man wearing a sharp suit and selling stainless steel plates told me.

This seems to be the consensus throughout the world.

The man continued:

“Obama goooooood! Obama blaaaackkkk! Black is goooood! Barak Hussein Obama goooood! Hussein is Muslim name. Muslim gooooood.”

And so my walk continued through a Turkey riding on the crest of the Obama tidal wave.

Hello Obama in Turkey Music Video