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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:54 pm Post subject: Europe, Iowa and NH |
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Two articles about European perceptions on the recent electoral events.
http://economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10497345
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VOTERS of America, well done: you are less racist (or sexist) than Europeans had feared. Remember, though, that you are rather naive: please try to pick a competent president this time. This dismissive summary, combining condescension with distrust, captures all too many European reactions to the duel between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in this year's presidential election (and, given the gulf between most Europeans and the Republicans, this is the contest to be Europe's preferred candidate as well�although a few Europeans retain a soft spot for John McCain).
A French newspaper, Lib�ration, said that the arrival in the White House of �a black man, married to a black woman, [with] a black family� would be an act of �atonement� that would restore the image of an America �shunned in every corner of the planet�. A German tabloid, Bild, offered praise for Mr Obama's �sexy� charms, under the headline: �This Black American Will Become the New Kennedy!� In Spain El Pa�s trumped all others, telling readers: �The question is whether the United States is ready for a president who is black, a woman, an evangelical minister, a Mormon or a Catholic.�
Click here to find out more!
You might expect even cynical Europeans to be impressed by the sight of ordinary Americans tramping through the snow in Iowa and New Hampshire to hear politicians speak. Not the writers at a German newspaper, S�ddeutsche Zeitung. The duel in New Hampshire, it grumbled, had degenerated into an apolitical beauty contest. Mr Obama's appeal to voters was based on sentiment without substance: if only Americans would heed the lessons of the Bush years and choose the experienced Mrs Clinton. A Belgian newspaper, Le Soir, struck a kinder note. Writing after Mr Obama's win in Iowa, it argued that the signs were that �this time, Americans will not be duped� by calculating politicians, but were seeking leaders with convictions. Their optimism is not without naivety, Le Soir cautioned, �but who is going to complain after the dark years of Bush junior?�
In a random sampling in the streets of Nuremberg, in Bavaria, ordinary Germans seemed impressed by the two things they knew about Mr Obama: he is not George Bush, and he is the son of an African. Dirk Hellwig, a graphic designer, said he would feel more �positive� about America if Mr Obama won the presidency. �I don't know what he wants to do,� Mr Hellwig admitted. �But I think Germans will think Obama is a sign that something is changing.� A win by Mrs Clinton would also send a signal of American change, Mr Hellwig said. �But the signal would be bigger from Obama, because he is black.�
It is striking that many Europeans skate over the political views of Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama and instead treat their fight as a simple Rorschach test of the health of the American dream. In fact, both Democratic frontrunners' policy platforms answer (at least superficially) some of the biggest European gripes about Mr Bush over the past eight years. Mr Obama, unlike Mrs Clinton, consistently opposed the Iraq war�although changes of government in France and Germany have largely healed transatlantic wounds over Iraq. Both candidates take positions on climate change that are far closer to Europe than anything Mr Bush has offered. Both have called for the closure of the Guant�namo detention camp. Both have echoed the outrage of many Europeans at the feeble federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
Alas, Mr Bush's first term left many Europeans past caring. His re-election in 2004 was a shock that in part explains the snippiness of much European coverage now. To some Europeans, Mr Bush's election in 2000 seemed no more than an unhappy accident: in their telling, he ran (falsely) as a centrist and compassionate conservative and then stole the presidency in Florida. But his re-election could not be explained away so easily. Ultimately, it reflected the choice of American voters, which some Europeans still cannot forgive.
Nor is European enthusiasm for either candidate likely to survive the election of Mrs Clinton, Mr Obama, or whoever else becomes president. The person who gets voters' nod will rule as an American, promoting American interests around the world�and no doubt disappointing many watchers from abroad. For Europeans to imagine anything else would be naive indeed. |
And from Canada's National Post:
http://www.nationalpost.com
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Europe anticipating American election
PARIS - Europe, a continent both dependent on and often resentful of U.S. power over many decades, is watching the American election campaign unfold with unusual fascination and even admiration as the George W. Bush era nears its end.
Europeans, typically more left-wing on social matters and suspicious of both military action and organized religion, appear enthusiastic about the idea of a more liberal president - in particular the first female or the first black occupant of the Oval Office.
"Anyone is better than Bush, and I would like a president Obama who will put more emphasis on peace," said Ali Bourdache, 33, a newspaper and magazine vendor in Paris.
(Obama) is regularly described as a modern version of John F. Kennedy, particularly in Germany where JFK symbolized American solidarity with his stirring "I am a Berliner" speech in 1963 at the height of the Cold War.
An unscientific online poll by the French newsmagazine Le Nouvel Observateur, which like most major European publications has produced saturation coverage of the U.S. primaries, asked readers who among five choices they would pick if they were participating in the Democratic primaries.
Obama got an overwhelming 62 per cent of the 1,653 votes cast, double Clinton's 29 per cent.
"He appeals to the European sense of what America really stands for, or should stand for," said Dan Hamilton, a former senior American diplomat in Europe and now director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
"He represents fully the American dream," said Olivier Richomme, co-author of biography of Obama that has become a hot seller here after the senator won the Iowa caucuses this month.
Many French youth from immigrant families are wearing Obama t-shirts, Richomme told the newspaper Liberation, though he added that the French mainstream "are not ready" to see a dark-skinned immigrant as president.
European intellectuals and media pundits have for years turned up their noses at the American political system, even though it was U.S. power and benevolence that both liberated the continent from Hitler, revived its shattered post-war economy, and shielded it from the Soviet Communist threat.
"The problem with America is we don't understand these people. First they elect George W. Bush. Well, it could be a mistake. But then they re-elect them," said Jean-Michel Demetz, deputy editor in charge of foreign coverage at the newsmagazine l'Express.
Now some observers, fascinated by the possible switch to Clinton and especially Obama, are downright jealous.
"Almost as long as I can remember, British political types have sneered at the American system . . . that the Democrats and Republicans were just different brands of the same gassy product, Pepsi and Coke," wrote The Guardian columnist Jackie Ashley.
But she noted that British voters currently have to choose between three middle-aged white male leaders while Americans have Clinton, Obama and a variety of compelling Republican candidates such as Mormon millionaire Mitt Romney and war hero John McCain.
"Instead of dismissing American democracy in our snooty way, we need to ask what we can learn."
The left-leaning Liberation newspaper in Paris, campaigning for a new Socialist leader to take on President Nicolas Sarkozy, ran an editorial this week that began as a classified ad: "The French left seek a charismatic leader, age 46, of mixed race, to deliver a message of hope and unity."
"For many Americans, September 11th changed the world. But I think for many Europeans it changed America," said Hamilton, the former diplomat.
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(Both have been edited by me for length)
I'm not following the contest that closely. However, it seems the rest of the world is, and it is all anybody ever wants to talk about. My peers are almost all non-Americans and they are all excited about Obama and/or Clinton, with some lingering skepticism. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Location: All over the map
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Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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It seems while many Europeans enjoy looking down their noses at what they perceive as American naivete, they have their own homegrown version of which they are seemingly unaware.
That said, I appreciate the fact that they care about what is happening across The Pond (as well they should). And I share some of the sentiments of their publications. It would be nice, however, if they looked beyond melanin content and boobies. |
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VanIslander

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:37 am Post subject: Re: Europe, Iowa and NH |
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thepeel wrote: |
Many French youth from immigrant families are wearing Obama t-shirts, Richomme told the newspaper Liberation, though he added that the French mainstream "are not ready" to see a dark-skinned immigrant as president. |
Yet they were ready to see a Hungarian immigrant of no French heritage other than his upbringing (hence he isn't French by the ethnic-minded traditionalists). Guess they just weren't ready to vote in a woman (the other candidate in their presidental race).
I guess a Clinton-Obama White House would really ruffle the French mainstream. LOL
I actually bet the French would be fond of ANY Democrat given their manifest distaste for GWB and all that he did. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:45 am Post subject: |
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It's smug and silly to judge one country by another country's historical trajectory. One example is the foolishness of some not-to-be-named Europeans to mention that the US had to have a civil war to end slavery and they didn't, assuming an aura of superiority because they didn't. It's the same with the post on another thread here where some not-to-be-named European said he's already tired of hearing Americans talk about Senator Clinton's possible election. Of course he ignores the ruling queens in many European countries' histories.
The truly remarkable thing the US is doing is debating the choice of a leader without much reference at all to race or gender in a country that less than 50 years ago was torn apart by those issues. We've come a long way in a very short time. If Obama can pull it off, will it be that long before we see a Jamaican-Brit (sorry, I don't know the right term for that) in 10 Downing Street or a North African as the President of France? |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:46 pm Post subject: |
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Of all the continents in the world, I care least what Europe thinks.
Seriously. Europe is like Canada, snarky and condescending in their perceptions of Americans, except that Europeans (unlike Canadians) actually a) know little about America b) haven't been abused by American trade whims.
Yes, I know this is an emotionally based over-generalization. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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Here are the letters of the editor regarding the Economist piece above:
SIR � So Europeans hail the possible election of Barack Obama as indication of positive change in the United States ("Charlemagne", January 12). Ironically, they themselves would never elect a black man to high public office. In Germany, Mr Obama would be perceived as a "foreigner" and treated accordingly. Perhaps a little introspection may be in order.
Mark Mattner
Montreal
SIR - Charlemagne has reached new heights of irony in reporting the views of Europeans on the Democratic primary. If many of Europe's citizens regard the outcome of the American presidential election as "a simple Rorschach test of the health of the American dream", what does the lack of any candidate of colour as a serious contender for the leadership of any European nation say about the state of democracy in Europe? How long will Europe's leaders continue to be a whiter shade of pale?
Peter Kuperis
Edmonton, Canada
http://www.economist.com/blogs/theinbox/2008/01/those_naive_american_voters_ja.cfm
(only 2 so far) |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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That is totally irrelevant IGTG. Keep it in the proper threads, please.
Back on topic:
Some American letters to the editor about Euro snobbery
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In light of the recent caucuses in the US state of Iowa, Europeans have no right to criticize the American election process, said readers.
The following comments reflect the views of DW-WORLD.DE readers. Not all reader comments have been published. DW-WORLD.DE reserves the right to edit for length and appropriateness of content.
I agree that the US system of electing a president may not be perfect and can put too much emphasis how a person conducts himself/herself rather than an ability to run a country, but I still prefer it over the German system (I was born and raised in Germany). I assume Mr. Unger knows that the US is a republic and not a democracy, much less a parliamentary democracy -- and thanks for that. He really thinks a party is better at selecting leaders than the people? All of my German friends are disillusioned with the party system because they feel they are not in the loop and have no input at all. Here I can visit with my representative or staff person and tell them what I think about legislation. For better or for worse, our representatives listen to the input from their constituents. I e-mail on a regular basis with my representative in the Florida legislature. As far as I am concerned, Europe can keep its parliamentary democracies. -- Marga E.Doerr, US
Republican and Democratic party symbols Bildunterschrift: Gro�ansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The US system doesn't work in other cultures, said a reader
When do you think a German with a Kenyan father and a middle name of Hussein will stir the hearts of say Bavarian farmers? It will come -- the war in Iraq is unsustainable, breaking the country's back, the dollar is diving and we are violating our principles of democracy. People are thinking for the first time that the next generation will have it worse and what is the use? The most important thing for us is to change from the path of tyranny, ruinous war and torture -- and the change will come. We will take our country back. We have had good luck in the past and we could use European help. Next time Germany has a problem, let us rub something in your eye to make you feel worse instead of giving you hope! -- Robert Friedman, US
Many Americans think we should make changes to our elections, especially in how they are financed. But any place that has free speech, including Europe, is subject to the concept of political propaganda being funded by what in the United States are called "political action committees." Even if campaign financing were reformed to only public financing in the US those who want to influence the voters will always be able to disseminate information/propaganda to the public in proportion to their funding. And sometimes the funding is massive. One thing not mentioned in this article is that in the Iowa caucuses the Republican winner was one of the least funded candidates thus far, as was the second place Democratic candidate. Indeed, the Democratic winner brought record numbers of young people (under age 25) into the political process for the first time. Messages won Iowa. "Establishment" candidates on both sides were rebuked. By far, this is the story from Iowa that is worth noting. -- Bryan Beyer, US
Unfortunately, you have decided to completely ignore the historical significance of Barack Obama's success in favor of criticizing the US election system. Maybe you will follow up with a more socially relevant discussion if Obama wins in New Hampshire. Regarding the US system, it is uniquely ours, only works for us, and has largely not been transferable to other cultures. We are Americans and not Europeans and our system was set up specifically rejecting anything European. -- Kathleen Johnson, US
Hillary ClintonBildunterschrift: Gro�ansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Clinton is not one of the candidates with a modest campaign budget
No surprise here: Europeans critical of the United States. This is just another example of Europe holding itself above the US. Add your "displeasure" of our political system to the never ending list. We are so tired of hearing how superior Europe is to the US that we have stopped listening and caring what you think. -- E.H. Day, US
I have never read an article in the American press criticizing the arcane political practices in Germany. Policy criticisms, yes. We never criticized Schr�der's bad hair dye when there was room for criticism. Yet the German elite seem to find no end of problems with the American political system. After the primary win by the first African-American candidate in US history, you trot out German college professors who criticize the process itself and they ignore the substance of what just took place. When I last visited Berlin, Berliners could not wait to sit me down and tell me everything that was wrong with America. I did not respond similarly because I was, after all, a guest in their country and it would not be appropriate for me to start criticizing. But it seems that Berliners have no qualms about criticizing and complaining about a guest's home country. -- John Alus, US |
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3041889,00.html
Last edited by thepeel on Tue Jan 15, 2008 7:21 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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igotthisguitar

Joined: 08 Apr 2003 Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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i respectfully disagree. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:37 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for those. You've posted both Canadian and American responses, and some were thoughtful and some funny. How about some European responses, if any show up? Those would be most interesting to me. |
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wannago
Joined: 16 Apr 2004
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:38 am Post subject: |
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We are so tired of hearing how superior Europe is to the US that we have stopped listening and caring what you think. |
This sums it up nicely for me. I couldn't care less what the eurotrash think nor Canadians, for that matter. No matter what they think, at the end of the day, they still can't vote and the decision is up to the Americans and what is best for them and their country. Period. |
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Tiger Beer

Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:00 am Post subject: |
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...
Last edited by Tiger Beer on Thu Jan 17, 2008 5:37 pm; edited 5 times in total |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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More:
From Canada:
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Barbara Kay: Green with envy over America's black messiah
Posted: January 16, 2008, 4:06 PM by Marni Soupcoff
Barbara Kay
Whenever Canadians elect a minority government, pundits caution the opposition against forcing another election too hastily. They always claim it's voter exhaustion, but they're more likely projecting their own fatigue, understandable after many weeks of 24/7 election coverage. And yet, Canadian journalists seem to have limitless vicarious stamina for America's interminable 2008 presidential selection process.
The recent Iowa and New Hampshire diversity-themed presidential primaries were Canadian pundits' favourite reality show: Would Mormonism be voted off the Republican island? Would it be gender or race dictating the ultimate Democratic Survivor?
Diversity is the liberal media's catnip. Canadian observers are particularly excited that finally both a black man and a woman have an excellent shot at the presidency. Yet one senses competitive frustration. They beat us to it! After all, Canadians 'R Diversity! Theoretically we're sooooo ready for a woman, a black, an aboriginal, a Jew, a gay, a Musl
, um, or a gay as PM. But while we talk the talk, those chutzpadik Americans seem to be walking the walk.
Canadian candidates for party leadership are invariably middle-aged heterosexual white guys of Euro-Christian descent, and the only modern "identity" issue is who speaks the other official language better. American politics were similarly undiversified (JFK was Catholic, big deal, we've been there, done that), but this American breakthrough surge -- colour! -- is an embarrassment to politically correct Canadian politicos.
Wistfully, they contemplate the easy journalistic pickings across the border. Is Obama black enough? Is Hillary manly enough? These questions excite them. Check out a beaming Obama on the cover of Maclean's this week, and the awestruck five-page tribute within.
Or take veteran political commentator Lawrence Martin, who is normally a cool and detached Canadian journalist. His Globe & Mail column
of last Thursday was a giddy political love letter to Obama's image: "Mr Obama at 46, somehow makes [48-year old Stephen Harper] appear much older."
As if looking older (and -- implied -- so much paler!) weren't crime enough, Mr. Harper is also a nationalist. What a fogey! Indeed, another nationalist "dinosaur," John McCain, makes Martin laugh (literally: Martin attended one of his speeches): "[McCain] said -- this is not made up -- that the disparate band of Islamic terrorists represent the greatest threat to America in its history." Martin means this to read as funny -- man, these old Commie-fighters are so 2002 -- except, of course, Mc-Cain is right.
But the really unnerving heart of the column is the mighty exertion Martin expends on appropriating Obama as a kind of honorary Canadian. He offers us a misty vision of Obama as Canada's alter ego: "Young Canada, like him, is diverse, cosmopolitan, internationalist, multi-ethnic, multilateralist, less ideological, more anti-war."
Note the word order: "diverse" above all. Note the lack of specificity: "Multi-ethnic" and "anti-war" are not policies. Note the failure to consult Canadian history: The Parti Quebecois thought Andre Boisclair was "Young Quebec," so to speak, and elected him leader for exactly the Obama-esque qualities Martin cites (and of course his gayness, another ace in the diversity deck) rather than experience and policies, and look where that got them: third place in the last Quebec election.
Do Obama's gushy diversity fans really believe they know how he would react to a terror attack on U.S. soil? That's what would keep me up nights as an American voter, not whether he is black enough to assuage my white guilt.
Diversity is the natural outcome of an open society, but it takes time. If diversity does not appear organically as a sidebar to character, experience and worthy policies, rather than as a reason in itself, it is no healthier for democracy than ceding the election to the wealthiest candidate.
"Hope," "change" and "It's time for a new beginning," Obama's signature rallying cries, are meaningless rhetoric. But huge numbers of Americans have bought into what is looking like a messianic unity fantasy. As Canadians with a different history, our media should make every effort to understand what is going on, but with a little more detachment and a little less mindless adulation than we have seen so far. |
http://network.nationalpost.com
Europe:
Quote: |
Obamania: The View From Europe
Barack Obama's sudden and monumental win in Iowa followed by his surprising and poll-defying loss in New Hampshire has been followed closely by the European press, probably to a greater degree than any party primary season in US history.
Obama's initial win in Iowa dominated front pages and TV screens across Europe. Besides the fact that he was unknown in Europe, the particular focus for the continent seemed to be on Obamas race. Europe�s media, accustomed now to viewing the US with exasperation, almost seemed to be at a loss for how to cover the Iowa result, such was their astonishment.
The Times of London proclaimed that race relations in the US has been, �reshaped by the son of a Kenyan goatherd." Obama dominated the front pages Friday of The Guardian, The Independent and the Telegraph, which also ran big spreads inside on the candidate. In Germany, the Berlin daily Die Tageszeitung wrote, "Iowa is a U.S. state where people have surnames such as Kastner, Best or Danielson. They are white, raise pigs or cultivate corn, and in the history of their state have never elected an African-American to any office," (quote courtesy of the Globe and Mail). The paper also featured a huge photo of Obama beneath the headline "Whites select black."
Of course it�s not hard to see why Obama�s race was such a particular focus in Europe, because, as many editorials conceeded, such a result would never be possible anywhere on their continent.
Yet another main focus for the European press was the drastic change in direction seeming to be suggested by Obama's win. Paris's Le Monde proclaimed, "The Greater America opts for the New Man," The editors of Lib�ration wrote, "After eight years of depressing developments, finally some good news from the United States." The paper continued, "Barack Obama is an exemplar of the American tradition of pluralism ... Obama embodies the transformation, and it goes beyond his colour ... This is the man who could reconcile America with itself and with the rest of the world."
New Hampshire
Yet the European press's reaction to Obama's loss in New Hampshire seemed to suggest that though there was significant interest in Obama, this has not translated into enthusiasm here. One could detect a distinct sigh of relief in the European coverage of Hillary's New Hampshire win on Wednesday.
Part of this of course is that they know Hillary, they adored Bill Clinton and are eager to see a return to the Clinton years. They know almost nothing about Obama, and being removed from the domestic situation in the US they can't quite understand the enthusiasm for a man who has outlined comparatively little of his actual platform or policy plans.
And from a European perspective, what they do know they don't like. An article in The Times of London in December first started spreading the fear that Obama wasn't all that interested in or knowledgeable about Europe. The article pointed out that although Obama has been chairman of the Senate European Subcommittee since he became a senator in 2004 , he has failed to convene a single policy meeting of the group. He's also only made one brief official visit to London, and none to the rest of Western Europe. In fact there has been speculation that Obama hasn't travelled in Europe at all, even on an informal level. The campaign has been slow and vague in denying this.
This of course contrasts with Clinton's extensive visits to Europe in an unofficial and official capacity and her close contact with European leaders.
But beyond the distrust Europeans feel about Obama's enthusiasm for Europe, there is also another hesitation, particularly in the UK. As one Scottish lawyer put it, "I think we all view Obama with some distrust because we were burned so bad by Tony Blair, who came in with that same promise of renewal and hope but turned out to be just like the rest of them."
Of course the extent to which this is true of Blair can be debated, but considering the prevailing mood about Blair's legacy here in the UK at the moment it's not surprising that they would view a 'reformer' whipping people into a frenzy of hope and enthusiasm across the pond with a bit of cynicism. |
http://www.nowpublic.com/politics/obamania-view-europe
Europe and Latin America:
Obama, The Mirror
Quote: |
What foreign reaction to Barack Obama says about foreigners.
Alvaro Vargas Llosa, The New Republic Published: Wednesday, January 16, 2008
WASHINGTON--Foreign leaders and journalists often joke that the whole world should get to vote in U.S. elections since the outcome affects the entire planet. His recent setback in New Hampshire notwithstanding, an intense scrutiny of Barack Obama is taking place from Buenos Aires to Paris. But what observers and politicians are saying about him is what they are really saying about their own societies.
In Europe, one senses a quiet shame. The left, which loves to criticize the Unites States for its imperial foreign policy and its discrimination against blacks and Hispanics, is not really saluting Obama. There have been few gushing articles in Italy's La Repubblica or France's Le Monde. And by sending the message that it might be ready to elect an African-American, a part of mainstream America is showing the industrialized world a more open-minded attitude than the United States usually gets credit for. This is particularly embarrassing in socialist Europe. Contrast the attitude of those white Americans who are ready for a President Obama with the conditions that have led France's North African immigrants to riot on the outskirts of Paris. And have the Scandinavian countries ever generated anything comparable to Obama among the minorities who are tended to so generously as long as they don't make too much noise?
The European right appears more enthusiastic about the liberal Obama than the left. French political scientist Dominique Moisi seems to think the Democrat will give pro-American Europeans some arguments to "sell" the United States among anti-Americans. "Why is Obama so different," he asks in a recent syndicated essay, "from the other presidential candidates? After all, in foreign policy matters, the next president's room to maneuver will be very small. He (or she) will have to stay in Iraq, engage in the Israel-Palestine conflict on the side of Israel, confront a tougher Russia, deal with an ever more ambitious China, and face the challenge of global warming. If Obama can make a difference, it is not because of his policy choices, but because of what he is. The very moment he appears on the world's television screens, victorious and smiling, America's image and soft power would experience something like a Copernican revolution."
French philosopher Guy Sorman states in a recent op-ed article syndicated in Europe that "the heart of the United States is still conservative" and will "remain within the constraints set by Reagan in the 1980s: moral values, markets, military activism and small government." He points out that Obama will pull the troops out of Iraq but reinforce the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. Other right-wing commentators point to the fact that, unlike Hillary Clinton, Obama's health-care plan would not impose mandatory insurance--a sign that his type of social engineering is "light."
In Latin America, conservatives are also looking positively at Obama for different reasons. They use him as an example of the reasonable way to bring about social change--peacefully and through the established institutions--even if they disagree with his liberal penchant. For instance, in Argentina's La Nacion, Mario Diament notes that Obama's background means the candidate "does not carry the history of racial discrimination" that other black leaders carry, and applauds the fact that "he is not one of the irate leaders of the civil rights era." The implicit message directed at Latin America's left is that the United States is a self-correcting society that, unlike radical Bolivians or Venezuelans, does not believe in replacing the legacy of discrimination against minorities with populist revolutions.
The Latin American left, sensing that the story of racial mobility implicit in Obama's personal story is too good an ad for American society, has chosen to moderate its embrace of the black American senator. One pundit noted in Venezuela that the only meaningful gesture toward Latin America coming out of an Obama foreign policy agenda would be "the lifting of the travel restrictions against Cuba" and "perhaps one day talking to Hugo Chavez."
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http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=c787aa9d-cb3d-49d9-a960-0a5bdac0aa67
I'm not following the primaries closely at all. And I know little about Obama or his policy stances. But I love the reactions from the world about America. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:50 pm Post subject: |
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I do too.
This was surprising to hear:
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After all, in foreign policy matters, the next president's room to maneuver will be very small. He (or she) will have to stay in Iraq, engage in the Israel-Palestine conflict on the side of Israel, confront a tougher Russia, deal with an ever more ambitious China, and face the challenge of global warming. |
Unfortunately, it's true. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:00 am Post subject: |
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Yes, the room to move it small. But the perception that he is fighting against the prevailing winds will be enough to sustain a more positive view of the United States. The world likes platitudes. Get in Kyoto, the landmine/testban treaties, the ICC and pay back dues to the UN and the perception of a unilateral America will decline. No meaningful changes have to happen. Add to this a black face (it matters) and I think much changes.
Still, the most amazing is that the Osama shirts are being replaced with Obama shirts in the French ghettos. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994
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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:27 am Post subject: |
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Still, the most amazing is that the Osama shirts are being replaced with Obama shirts in the French ghettos. |
Hope is a very powerful emotion. Successful politicians are those who know how to manipulate symbols (and that doesn't necessarily mean something bad).
I'm against the war, too, but I realize Powell's Pottery Barn rule is correct: You break it and it's yours. I want the troops out asap, but precipitate withdrawal is not really in the cards. It would be a disaster of monumental proportions. |
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