Former President Barack Obama privately telephoned French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron on Thursday — a conversation that Macron promptly made public by uploading the call, on speakerphone, to Twitter.
The first round of voting is Sunday in the closely watched race. Obama called Macron to wish him luck but not to issue an endorsement, according to Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis. But that didn’t stop Macron from publicizing the call, writing on Twitter: “Let’s keep defending our progressive values.”
“The main message that I have is to wish you all the best in the coming days,” Obama said. “Make sure you that, as you said, you work hard all the way through. Because, you never know — it might be that last day of campaigning that makes all the difference.”
The 60-second video appears edited and with some redaction. But the contents of such calls tend to be kept private.
Obama is not endorsing before the Sunday round of voting.
“President Obama appreciated the opportunity to hear from Mr. Macron about his campaign,” Lewis said in a statement, “and the important upcoming presidential election in France, a country that President Obama remains deeply committed to as a close ally of the United States, and as a leader on behalf of liberal values in Europe and around the world.”
