A day in the life of Ban

The long anticipated reelection of Ban Ki-moon for a second term as U.N. secretary-General was noted by the international press, but only in the most restrained and dutiful fashion. The New York Times registered the occasion with a three-line item. The Wall Street Journal ran a sentence at the bottom of its news briefs.

To compensate for the relative lack of press attention — a problem that has plagued Ban throughout his first term — the United Nations decided to produce its own tribute to the secretary-general in the form of a video that follows him throughout his workday. Weaving in the thrumming beats of a 1980s MTV video and liberal doses of soaring rhetoric, the whole thing has the air of a political-campaign advertisement.

Titled the World in a Day: Behind the Scenes with the UN Secretary-General, the video tracks Ban from his Sutton Place residence at 7:15 a.m. through a hectic day of handshakes and speeches on the opening day of the 2010 U.N. General Assembly general debate, which draws world leaders from across the globe for a few weeks of speech-making and backdoor diplomacy. The New Zealand pop band Evermore provides the background music to tweak Ban’s cool’s factor.

There are cameos of the rich and famous, including U.S. President Barack Obama and billionaire Bill Gates, moving through the crowd to shake hands with the U.N. leader. There are cutaways to the villains he must confront, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is filmed in an unflattering moment of vanity, fixing his hair as he prepares for an interview.

But the real star is Ban.

We hear Ban weighing in on the momentous issues of the day, poverty, climate change, and justice. We capture a glimpse of Ban’s human side, cuddling his granddaughter, waving good morning to a neighbor and his two dogs.

We learn of Ban’s humble beginnings, his tireless work habits, his waking up at 4 in the morning, and his well-known habit of measuring his achievements by the number of meetings he conducts, the number of miles he travels, and the number of hours he works during a week.

"I have had during the last 10 days 192 events, including 120 bilateral meetings with heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers," Ban says.

There are the personal testimonials of his devoted staff, breathlessly conjuring up the magic of life in the "hothouse" of U.N. diplomacy.

"This is the Super Bowl of diplomacy; this is the World Cup of diplomacy," says Bob Orr, his policy planning advisor. "It’s happening fast and furious, and no one wants to get left out."

"It’s amazing to watch," says Kim Won-soo, a former South Korean foreign service officer who followed Ban to the United Nations. "One day he may give like 10 speeches and [meet] with maybe 25, 30 different leaders, all different topics."

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