By Sam Sanders
President Barack Obama toasts with Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Jason Reed/Reuters)
President Obama arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday, for the second stop along his Asian tour. The country’s been waiting some two years for his visit; he’s delayed travel to country twice before during his presidency to stay home and address domestic issues.
As he finally makes it to Jakarta, it’s worth noting just how much Indonesia, the country that considers him a native son, loves all things Obama. Case in point: the Barack Obama reality show.
This week, The Post’s Chico Harlan mentioned the Indonesian Obama reality show/trivia contest in one of his stories:
In February, the U.S. Embassy here created a contest allowing three people the chance to retrace Obama’s footsteps, with travels to Hawaii, Chicago and Washington. Roughly 12,000 people wrote brief essays, vouching for their worthiness. Embassy officials whittled the list to 1,000, giving them a multiple-choice test on Obama trivia. The final 10 contestants then performed on an “American Idol”-style television show (“Obama Golden Ticket”), which aired in advance of the canceled June trip. And the 14-day Obamamania experience was aired, too, as a reality show — just in time for the president’s arrival.
The three winners, Baban Sarbana of Bogor, Dimas Novriandi of Jakarta, and Vivi Hasyim of Surabaya, received an all-expense paid trip to significant places in President Obama’s life, according to the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.
The lucky winners will visit “not just the houses were he lived and the buildings where he taught law, but also the Baskin-Robbins where he once scooped ice cream and the bluff in Hawaii over which the ashes of Obama’s mother were scattered,” Harlan later wrote.
If that doesn’t blow your mind, these YouTube videos of the “Golden Ticket” Indonesian reality show will. (Watch for the American-themed cowboys and Indians costumes in the second clip.There’s even an Obama themed star-pendant on a cowboy hat.) Enjoy:
Source: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2010/11/the_obama_reality_show_in_indo.html