Politically correct stance reflects the White House position.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: After traveling with President Barack Obama’s delegation on his historic trip to India last month, Indian American film actor and former White House official Kal Penn has released a government endorsed, promotional video highlighting some details from the latest presidential excursion abroad.
The piece opens with Penn underscoring the fact that this is the first time a sitting U.S. president has visited India twice during his time in office. Penn also mentions one of the reasons for the second trip is that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Obama “hit it off” so well the first time around, after which Modi invited his American counterpart to be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations, which is another first for an American president.
The pandering tone at the video’s start exemplifies the United States’ newly renewed efforts to form closer a closer political bond with India and further bilateral dialogues.
The video eventually switches to shots of Penn riding around Delhi in an auto-rickshaw while waxing lyrical about the merits of democracy, the crucial foundation of both the United States and India’s governments.
Penn then expounds on the various accomplishments enabled by the trip, including high level talks regarding India-U.S. economic ties, civil nuclear understanding, the pursuit of increased cooperation around developing clean energy, new defense initiatives, counterterrorism strategies, as well as the pursuit of cleaner air and enhanced public health.
Before switching gears to domestic matters, the video squeezes in footage of Obama paying his respects to Mahatma Gandhi while Penn observes that despite the busy schedule, there was “still time to honor the legacy of political action through nonviolent means that binds both our nations.”