The “Obama17” petition was created by a group of French people that want Barack Obama to become President of France for the next term that starts this year 2017. The objective of this group is to collect 1 million signatures before March 15 for the ex-POTUS be elected as Commander in Chief of the European country.
Even when there are no chances of Obama becoming President of France legally speaking, the organizers of the Obama17 movement have not stopped on making a guerrilla campaign that tries to persuade Mr. Obama to be in the most prominent political position in France.
“It’s totally crazy, but the cool thing is that once you get past that, you start thinking that maybe it’s possible. Who cares that he’s not French? He’s Barack Obama,” one of the campaign organizers told CNN. “We want to show that people are fed up with the politicians here. People are tired of it and they like this joke. It gives people a little fun amid all these scandals.”
The organizers have launched a website and over 500 campaigning pamphlets in streets all around France’s capital, Paris, since last weekend. Even when they clearly admit this is a joke, they are looking forward to obtaining the 1 million signatures and urge Obama to consider the call for help.
France’s Presidential Election
French citizens will go to their electoral centers next April 23 to elect a new President. If none of the current candidates achieves 50 percent of the voting, the top two will run again for a winner to be elected. Polls are showing how the candidate from the far-right National Front party, Marine Le Pen, is leading the process at least in the first round. However, those same polls clearly show how Le Pen would not be able to get the 50 percent necessary.
The organizers of the Obama17 are upset with the candidates running in the current French election, Le Pen being the less popular among them. According to declarations from one of the organizers, it is inconceivable that they were not able to find a candidate to vote for, and instead, all the other candidates represent the voting option against Le Pen. Therefore, they got to the conclusion that Obama is free, so they thought of hiring him.
The organizers are aware that there is no much chance of Obama playing along with the joke. However, many people have reached the group with serious suggestions about the possibility of making Obama the first American to be President of France or any other country that is not the United States.
They even joked about how they have received emails from French lawyers that explain the possible mechanisms to make the petition valid, as Obama would have to be naturalized by the President of the National Assembly.
One of the organizers told CNN that they are hopeful of Obama responding to the petition, as he noted that even when it is quite impossible, French people would go crazy if it happened, especially young people.
Source: CNN
He would be perfect for them. They would be perfect for him.