EXCERPT FROM AN INTERVIEW ON FRANCE24
Ulysse Gosset: The last question, because I know you have a plane to catch and get back to recording your new album. The US could well have a black president soon. Do you think his Kenyan extraction might make a difference – in the US and in Africa? And, while we’re at it, will he win?
Bono: I like Barack very much. Senator Obama is someone with whom we have worked very well over the last few years. I know him quite well. He has signed up to an increase in aid. He has signed up to a commitment to defeat the AIDS emergency. You know, it just takes two pills a day and people stop dying. You can get those pills from any corner chemist here. So he will support the Global Fund, as France does. I think he will do a great job for us. But one of the reasons he will is because there’s a growing movement of people in America who are saying that this is important to them, people who want the US to be seen as a benign presence in the world, not just as a military presence in the world. There are campaigners out there. One starts his campaign in France here today (and you can sign up with one.org). And, wherever Barack Obama goes, there are people asking him questions about Africa. Wherever John McCain goes there are people asking questions about Africa too. When there were ten candidates, they were all being hounded by one campaigner. This is real politics. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the National Rifle Association…
Ulysse Gosset: Yes, of course.
Bono: It’s a very dangerous thing in the US. They are the people who make sure it’s OK to be able to buy a gun in America. We don’t think it’s OK. But they’re very organised. We want to give for the world’s poor. We want to be the NRA for the world’s poor. We want to be very organised. When people get behind us we support them, and when people are against us…
Ulysse Gosset: So Obama in the White House would be good news for the world and for Africa?
Bono: I think it will be very good news for the world. But I hasten to add that John McCain is a supporter of our ideas too.
Ulysse Gosset: So who would you vote for?
Bono: Once I put on my One T-shirt, I gave up my right to be from the Left or from the Right. This is the one thing both can agree on. So I’m basically an unusual Irish rock star (because we never shut up) but I will remain mute about who I would vote for were I American.
Bono speaks glowingly of Obama but he takes pains to keep from dissing McCain. He doesn't want to alienate anyone on the Left or the Right. It's simple. He wants the next President of the United States to support increased aid for Africa and the world's poor.
He keeps his mouth shut when it comes to endorsing one presidential candidate over the other.
When it comes to the NRA though, Bono doesn't hesitate to bash the association as "very dangerous." That makes his statement about wanting to "be the NRA for the world’s poor" sort of odd.
He admires that the NRA is very organized and he wants there to be a powerful, organized effort for the poor. Fine. It's still weird to say he wants to be like a group he just called "very dangerous."
Bono is definitely anti-2nd Amendment. That would put him at odds with Obama.
Obama is pro-gun, right? I guess Bono hasn't heard that Obama "refined" his position on guns.
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