-How different was Obama to you than a lot of the other Americans that you met?
I didn't at that time consider him stereotypical or fit any of the image of any kind of American, neither the whites nor the blacks. The blacks I found tough, scary and intimidating, which the New York blacks very much were in those early '80s. Anyway, no, he didn't fit, Barack didn't fit into – I didn't consider him American. I didn't have much knowledge of what is American either, except from my preconceived notions from living outside of the country. I had just arrived in the United States. But he seemed like an international individual.
-And what did he get from these friends, these international friends, that he seemed to be so drawn to this crowd? Instead of hanging out with urban African Americans, he was hanging out with a lot of Pakistani guys and some Indian guys.
I have a feeling that the African Americans in New York probably didn't give him the time of day, because he wasn't tough enough. I'm sure they wouldn't have seen him like them. Barack was soft-spoken and gentle and clean language. I hope I'm not stereotyping black Americans, but from the point of view I had at that time, the only ones I had come into contact were in my neighborhood on the street, and they were intimidating and scary. But Barack didn't seem like one of them.
And you asked me why?
-What was he getting from you guys? Why was he drawn to this group of people?
Just a common sensibility, a kind of a common worldview.
-I mean, it's fascinating. I mean, you guys were all – a lot of you were connected to the power elite in Pakistan, for instance.
The Bhuttos, yeah.
-You were friends with the Bhuttos. In fact, one of the daughters came to visit you at some point.
Right.
-For Barack Obama, what do you think he got from these friendships that makes up his knowledge base?
I mean, it's just you gravitate toward people who talk about things that are of interest to you, right? None of these people were militant or violent or radical in any form. We were all, I guess, liberal, liberal and more, had a wider worldview.
I think one of the first things that struck me when I came to the United States is when you read the newspapers and you watch the news, even the world news, you're oblivious to what's going on around the planet; that the world is from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and that's it.
So I guess that was probably what drew him to the Frenchman, Laurent Delanney, and the Indian guy, Vinai [Thummalapally] and the Pakistani guy. It's just –
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/choice-2012/the-frontline-interview-sohale-siddiqi/