Bab 15: Interview with CNNs Elisabeth Warner-Minogue
"You started your political career as mayor, then became the governor of florida, and after two terms you ran for President, and won," Elisabeth Warner-Minogue started. "Did you enter politics with the goal of becoming the President of our country, or did that goal first evolve with time?"
"I dreamed about it as a kid," President Bowmore admitted, "I don't remember it but my Mom said that even as a little kid I was great at breaking up neighborhood fights, and good at speaking in front of people. Anyway, as a kid being an alright speaker in school plays was enough to convince me I could be President," his anecdote made the journalist laugh, he shrugged with a smile and continued, "when I actually went into politics at about twenty-eight years old, I didn't think about it at all."
"Really?"
"Definitely. I was so happy and proud when I was elected Mayor of St. Petersburg Florida, that I didn't even think of my future in politics. I devoted my time and energy to the job and I really enjoyed it. When I decided to run for Govenor and won, I started to think 'hey, maybe I'm good at this' and I did my best there too, and in the middle of my first term I thought that maybe one day I would run for President."
"And you did, and you won." Elisabeth Warner-Minogue filled in. She had the typical shoulder-length blonde curls. Actually everything about her appearence was that of a typical pretty journalist, perhaps expect her name. She had refused to just go as 'Warner' or 'Minogue' and had insisted on keeping both her husbands and her name, even as a star journalist. Her friends had all told her 'go with Warner it sounds serious, like you mean business' and they'd rolled their eyes when she'd refused to. But Elisabeth was happy she'd done it her way. "Before we get to some personal questions that I'd like to ask you, so that our country can learn more about their president, I'd like to ask you about your priorities. I know that education and foreign policy are right up there, and you've spoken a lot about the economy, but some might say not nearly enough. Why are these things so important to you and to our country?"
"Well, Economy is what secures the prosperity of a country. It's very important to make sure that we are on a good track; which we are. The United States economy is one of the biggest in the world, and I don't think that will change. But what are changing, and will change, are relations to foreign nations. And these relations will secure stabil long-term agreements which can influence the economy." He looked her in the eyes as he spoke, directing his words to her. He'd seen many politicians look around when they talked, especially when they didn't answer a question but rather everything around it, he'd hated that for as long as he could remember, especially once he started having to talk to those kinds of people during his terms as Governor. "I also think that we are going to be facing more and more natural disasters because of climate change, and more and more pandemics because we're taking the 'space' that belonged to animals, and forcing them to smaller habitats. That means they'll mingle with us and we'll contact new diseases. During these kinds of criseses, or any crises at that, we'll need at least some help from abroad. And having good relations secures that help, and not only for us, also help that we can give others."
"And education? Because as far as I know you're not promoting science or economics, or social studies or anything that might help the economy or the political education of our students," she asked, "it's kind of contradictive to what you've been saying just now."
"Of course I think we need to promote science and all the other classes you've mentioned as well," he agreed, "but I think right now, history is just as important. Does history help understand relations between countries? Yes it does. And it also helps us understand the relationships between the american people. There is still racism in our country, there is stills sexism, and they're not just minor problems. Before we can claim to be a free nation, who've got a great economy, we need to sort out our problems. And sadly we still have quite a lot."
"So ending racism is more important to you than stopping climate change?"
"I didn't say that." Bowmore said, shaking his head. He wasn't annoyed or irritated, he'd learned how to be patient with journalists and reporters; you had to be as a politician. They were just doing their job too. "I simply think it will only be possible, or at least much easier, to do things like reach the 2°C goal if we stick together as a country. Think about it, we need the whole worlds cooperation to put and end to the rising global temperatures. And if we can't even settle conflicts in our own country how is that supposed to be possible."
"I see your point Mr. President, but that still doesn't make it clear to me why you aren't also promoting science and these other classes?"
"As I already said, I think that's important. And we will do that." He promised, "we simply started with history. We are aiming to improve the entire cirriculum."
"And how do you plan to do that, Mr. President?" She asked, prying deeper.
"For one, improve the subjects as in what exactly they have to learn. I also think it's necessary to raise the level of expectation, I think most high schools are very easy to pass. I'm not saying school should be super hard, but it should be a bit of a challenge at least. I hate the idea of the most challenging thing at school being getting up early in the morning, I think it should be the things the children and young adults learn. When I visited the school yesterday I was very happy to recieve a number of questions that showed me the children were smarter than the things they learn, they need to be pushed more. I remember it from my school days, when everything was too easy I got bored and stopped paying attention. This is still the case today."
"Alright, thank you Mr. President, I think we're all waiting to be able to see these changes, we've waited for better education for a long time, I think almost every President has pledged to improve it" she said and smiled quickly before asking her next question. "Are you planning on sending more aid to the conflict zones like the Ukraine and Gaza?"
"Yes," he started slowly, "We're continueing to send our paramedics and 'care' packages, we continue to take in refugees from the areas where living has gotten considerably more dangerous in both countries. We're also trying to push peace negotiations, which still proves quite diffecult because again, in both places, each side has different expectations to what this 'peace' would look like."
"Do you think these conflicts will last much longer, Mr. President?"
"I'll give a quick answer and a detailed one; yes I do, why? Even if the fighting ceases, and an agreement is made, in either of these conflicts actually, there are going to be people who aren't pleased. And I'm afraid that will be, again in both cases, a large or at least considerable ammount of the population. It's going to take a long time to iron over all of the different demands, and of course, to make up for the material and immaterial losses."
"I agree, war is never an easy thing to sort out," she paused quickly before posing her next question, "my next question for you is sort of a follow-up, Mr. President. Do you think that organisations like NATO really perserve peace or do you think they, as for example the Russians migth argue, more likely damage it?"
"That's a hard question to answer. I honestly think organisations that are made, or were originally made as a military allience against a certain country or area can be problematic. They can cause a feeling of threat." He tried to formulate his answer carefully, it was a diffecult topic "I certainly think that alliences are good; some countries are, for example, to small to protect themselves against a bigger aggressor and these places feel safer with a strong allience backing them up. For example in 1938 when Germany was just able to take over part of Slovakia, something like that might not have happened if NATO had already been formed. Knowing that you're going to war with a strong allience of many states makes it very unattractive, so alliences can be preventive. But at the same time, I think we have no right to turn NATO against certain countries and use it in a threatening way to get what we want. It should be solely for defense."
"Thank you again, Mr. President," the journalist said, "..."
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