US Features
PREVIEW: World hopes for US change
By Deutsche Presse-Agentur Oct 28, 2008, 7:58 GMT
US Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama waves as he takes the stage before delivering a speech at the Canton Memorial Civic Center in Canton, Ohio, USA, 27 October 2008. EPA/DAVID MAXWELL
At the global grassroots level, there's little doubt that much of the world hopes Democrat Barack Obama wins the White House on November 4.
But in the upper echelons of world governments, there is also uneasiness about the African American senator, beating Republican rival John McCain, 72, because Obama, 47, has campaigned on a protectionist platform that would make sure new jobs stay in the US.
It's strictly a pocketbook issue, amidst the global finance crisis that has seen investors pull back from emerging and developing economies. The dollar has grown stronger even as the collapse is blamed on lax US regulation.
Much of the planet - from the rank and file to national leadership - is relieved to see the unilateralist warrior, President George W Bush, leave office.
Many have fallen under the spell of the charismatic Obama, who pledges to solve international conflicts through diplomacy, with military action as the last resort, and to give more support to NATO efforts in Afghanistan and pull out of Iraq.
Obama drew a crowd of 200,000 to Berlin in July and has received unusual endorsements from foreign newspapers like the London Times.
Europeans in general see McCain as too close to Bush, who is widely disliked for his invasion of Iraq, rejection of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and perceived readiness to ignore global and European opinion.
The 27-member European Union is hoping for a change of tune.
Poles preferred Obama over McCain 62-38 per cent, the daily Gazeta Wyborcza found. Obama held the upper hand in Britain (64-15 per cent) and France (68-5 per cent), according to French-Canadian newspaper La Presse. Estonians preferred Obama by 32-20 per cent.
In Czech Republic and Poland, media have debated what an Obama or McCain presidency might mean for Pentagon plans to build missile defence bases in the two former Soviet-bloc nations. Both candidates support a missile shield, although Obama has called for more testing.
Across Eastern Europe, 'there is a feeling that whatever happens, the US' strategic interests in the world are not going to change much,' said Bryan P Bradley, an American who works at a management school in Vilnius, Lithuania.
McCain is seen in Russia as a holdover from the Cold War who fails to see 'any real difference between the Soviet Union and modern Russia,' said Konstantin Kosachyov, a senior figure in the dominant pro-Kremlin party and head of the Russian Duma's foreign affairs committee.
Yet there are Russians who are nervous about the country's history with Democratic leaders like John F Kennedy, who forced Moscow to stand down in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, and Jimmy Carter, who boycotted the 1980 Moscow summer Olympics.
In the Islamic world, Obama is seen as someone with a multicultural approach to world affairs because he spent formative pre-adolescent years in Indonesia, he is part African, and his father was Muslim.
Pakistani news media carried the McCain-Obama debates live, and have broadcast comic parodies of the candidates.
Tehran likes Obama because he would be willing to sit down with Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadeinejad. Obama has backpedalled somewhat on the offer after taking fire from both Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and McCain on a stance that alarmed US Jewish voters.
Palestinians, despite cynical expectations that neither candidate will change Washington's strong support for Israel, prefer Obama by 37-15 per cent over McCain.
In Israel, the prospect that Obama could win the White House has even appealed to conservative supporters of the hardline Likud party, which has no clear preference for McCain - even though he is seen as the natural successor to Bush, one of the most Israel-friendly US presidents ever.
Across Asia, there is uncertainty about Obama. Bush leaves office with Asian-US ties in generally good shape, despite regional worries about a looming recession.
Under Bush, India-US relations saw an unprecedented transformation, the US worked closely with China on the North Korea nuclear crisis, and Bush and First Lady Laura Bush showed strong support for the democracy movement in Myanmar.
Obama's criticism of the US-India civilian nuclear deal 'could make the bilateral nuclear deal run into rough weather,' said one Indian foreign ministry official who asked to remain anonymous.
Asian governments are worried about free trade and what a Democratic president like Obama could mean for globalization. Obama has criticized outsourcing of jobs to India, for example.
Canada, wary of Democratic protectionism, recently committed to more and liberalized trade with Europe as an alternative to the US, its main trade partner.
In Africa, Obama's image resonates everywhere - from images on Kenya's private 'matatu' buses to a Nigerian organization that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Obama, only to find US law prevented such a donation.
But there is skepticism about high hopes for Africa if Obama wins.
'Obama's success should come with a health warning ... lest we be disappointed,' South Africa's Financial Mail wrote in an editorial. 'Despite his African-sounding name, Obama is American as apple pie or baseball.'
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Older Talkback
page: 1
'Billybob' is an obvious leftist who in spite of his stupidity points out that we are electing the president of the USA not the president of the world. Americans need to vote for someone who will preserve our sovereignty and not sell out our hard won freedoms to internationalist institutions who have proven time and time again that they do not have our best interests at heart. Indeed they have continually demonstrated that they resent the USA and want to see us dragged down.
Vote for McCain, because he will do what is right for the USA instead of pandering to whiny europeans.
''because Obama, 47, has campaigned on a protectionist platform that would make sure new jobs stay in the US.''
Nice spin, Obamas platform will stifle job creation by taxing small business to the point where it cannot create new jobs. He will also tax cooperations to the point where they will be looking for any savings at all and shipping manufacturing over to China is a great way not to be taxed by Obama.
We want job creation in the USA, not socialist handouts to crack heads.
THIS TIME WITH GOOD REASON:
Sarkozy views Obama stance on Iran as 'utterly immature'
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is very critical of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama's positions on Iran, according to reports that have reached Israel's government.
Sarkozy has made his criticisms only in closed forums in France. But according to a senior Israeli government source, the reports reaching Israel indicate that Sarkozy views the Democratic candidate's stance on Iran as 'utterly immature' and comprised of 'formulations empty of all content.'
Obama visited Paris in July, and the Iranian issue was at the heart of his meeting with Sarkozy. At a joint press conference afterward, Obama urged Iran to accept the West's proposal on its nuclear program, saying that Iran was creating a serious situation that endangered both Israel and the West.
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According to the reports reaching Israel, Sarkozy told Obama at that meeting that if the new American president elected in November changed his country's policy toward Iran, that would be 'very problematic.'
Until now, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany have tried to maintain a united front on Iran. But according to the senior Israeli source, Sarkozy fears that Obama might 'arrogantly' ignore the other members of this front and open a direct dialogue with Iran without preconditions.
Following their July meeting, Sarkozy repeatedly expressed disappointment with Obama's positions on Iran, concluding that they were 'not crystallized, and therefore many issues remain open,' the Israeli source said. Advisors to the French president who held separate meetings with Obama's advisors came away with similar impressions and expressed similar disappointment.
According to the Israeli source, Sarkozy plans to begin intensive negotiations with the new American administration, regardless of whether it is headed by Obama or Republican Sen. John McCain, even before the new president takes office in January, with the goal of persuading him to continue the current policy on Iran.
The world can kiss my rear: I am voting for John McCain.
Outlandish expectations can only render the task harder should he win - and make the impact of failure almost unbearable, [(And he will fail)]
Sell Obamas now. They are overpriced and the forward market has gone crazy. If he becomes president, the bubble will burst, I guess in the spring of next year. From the moment four years ago when I first heard of Barack Obama and read his youthful memoir, I sensed a president in the making. Like the young Nelson Mandela in South Africa, he seemed to hold the aura of incipient national leadership. His range of sympathies, his oratory, his intelligence, his energy marked him out from the run. His embodiment of the American dream was astonishing.
Today the outside world, much of it with a direct and painful interest in American policy, wants Obama to win, by leads of 20% to 60%. These people have no vote. But the narrower electorate of the United States appears also to want Obama to win, albeit by a smaller margin. The world prefers him chiefly because he is black, the latter chiefly because he is not Republican.
Neither reason is robust. To most non-Americans, black is still code for being apart from the American establishment. Any visitor these days to Europe, to Africa or to the Muslim world is shocked by the depth of antipathy to the US. It is beyond ideology, a visceral, often racial aversion, unrelated to any personal attachment to individual Americans or their much-envied way of life. The ugly American is reborn.
Yet the same visitor is impressed by how often he is assured that an Obama presidency would 'change everything'. The reason is not that Obama is anti-war or pro-Palestinian or left or rightwing. It is that his origins render him the one thing he most vociferously denies, not an ordinary American.
To this world, Obama is a supposed representative of an oppressed class, however much his speech, manner and career bespeak the opposite. He is black and his name is confirmation enough. He symbolises the end of the Wasp ascendancy. The reason why his candidacy still discomforts many A
mericans is the reason the world craves it, that Obama is somehow unreal.
The qualities of charisma and rhetoric that Obama brings to this task may be a match for it. His declared policies are not. His desire to disengage from Iraq is not appreciably different from that of the Bush administration and the Iraqi government. On the other hand, his clearly expressed wish to beef up the war in Afghanistan is reckless.
Obama has approved the bombing of targets inside Pakistan (and presumably now Syria) and proposed invasion to 'secure' that country's nuclear arsenal. He has backtracked on compromise with Iran and done nothing to suggest an end to the macho provocation of Russia.
At home Obama would appear from his statements and voting records to be a conventional Democrat, essentially tax, spend and protect with tariffs. While some of this is America's business, the world economy needs a protectionist US like a bullet in the head. American markets open to world goods are vital for recovery, as is America's active participation in the easing of world trade. Obama has shown no sign of accepting this.
... The skills that Obama has brought to his campaign are essentially personal and organisational, not the superhuman ones that will be required of any occupant of the White House in the immediate future. The higher the anticipation, the more crippling will be the effort needed to meet it, and the greater the fall if it is not met.
The prospect of a failed Obama presidency at some time in 2009-10, whether by his doing or those of circumstance, is heartbreaking to contemplate. It would more than undo the gains secured by his election and devastate the cause he is seen as representing.
See what kind of fears is induced by the GOP?One has only to read the above posts to summarize the ostracism of the extreme right in the USA towards the rest of the world.
The only substitude that is offered by the GOPto replace the fast dropping licing standards of the population is nationalism and a sense of exceptionalism.at least that costs them nothing .
Fact is that 50 percent of the population in the USA owes 2.5 percent of the wealth?1 percent owes 38 percent of everything.
THose one percent want the bottom 50 percent to believe that they are equal.Are they ?
Compare your living standards with the rich,try to understand what happened to youreconomy.Have a look at the example given by the corporate tycoons:they export their money to the Cayman Islands,your jobs to China,refuse to pay tax,that is how patriotic they are.Will you all remain gullible hand believe that state of affairs.Will you be be kept happy with nothing more than an estranged sense of patriotism whilst they are not?
Don't be fooled.
Ask for them to pay taxes like everybody else,ask them to keep their money in the country.You sdeserve health care,education like the rest of the world.
'One has only to read the above posts to summarize the ostracism of the extreme right in the USA towards the rest of the world.'
Not 'extreme' at all. You have fallen overyourslves to turn your soverignty over to the EU or the UN or anyone else who will take your freedom away abd hopefully we are better then that. We don't need some unelected bureaucrat regulating the bend in our bananas, the free market can do that just fine.
'The only substitude that is offered by the GOPto replace the fast dropping licing standards of the population is nationalism '
How can you see our 'licing' standards drop all the way from your cloistered little fantasy land where the British give you money and we provide your defense? Lets say we were to become little socialist parasites like you; Who would we mooch off of?
If you can find someone to give us the deal you have: never do anything of except complain about someone else's country let me know.
'Fact is that 50 percent of the population in the USA owes 2.5 percent of the wealth?'
No tonny, that is not a 'fact' that is idiotic. What are you even defining 'wealth' as? What little poorly xeroxed tract did you get that figure off of?
'Compare your living standards with the rich,try to understand what happened to youreconomy.'
I live in a country that has opportunity. That is governments role, to facilitate the creation of opportunity. Not to seize assets from people who have taken advantage of opportunity and give it to people who haven't.
'Have a look at the example given by the corporate tycoons:they export their money to the Cayman Islands,'
You are going to see a lot of capital fleeing the country if Obama gets in. With it will go jobs. With then will go opportunity.
'Will you be be kept happy with nothing more than an estranged sense of patriotism whilst they are not?'
You finger waving little clown... Is it better to be given hand outs by some bloated nanny state? Is it better to become dependent on government rather then on our own initiative and work ethic? Is it better to turn over the decisions on success or failure to a government that has demonstrated conclusively that it screws things up?
Private enterprise adapts instantly to changes in the marketplace. If they don't they fail and go out of business. (You call this 'savage capitalism' because you don't want to be forced to sink or swim on your own merit.) Government intrusion adds inefficiencies, some are necessary, most are not. Turning it all over to the the government which wont be accountable to the free market just insures that you are handing control to people whose function will become to keep themselves employed while doing as little as possible. History has shown this over and over and over.... Yet you are too stupid to learn. I hope to God that we are not too stupid to see this before we repeat the same mistakes.
'Ask for them to pay taxes like everybody else,'
Sure, The top 50% pay 96.03% of the tax in this country. The Top 20% Pay 80% of Taxes... the system is already 'Progressive' as you would say. If you pile more of the tax burden on them they will send their money to the Caymans and the jobs to China.
'You sdeserve health care,education like the rest of the world.'
You are not 'educated' you are indoctrinated and socializing health care would be a disaster here. We don't want our doctors/treatment being assigned the way the motor vehicle department assigns license plates.
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americanbillyboybobOct 28th, 2008 - 14:53:33
The fact that the rest of the world wants b. HUSSEIN o. to win the election really means that all real Americans must vote for McCain. After all, it's us against them. We don't need no stinkin UN, or new world order like GHWB proposed back in the day of phony diplomacy. We don't need no stinkin mics and spics and wops, and chincs, and frogs, or towel heads or darkies around to muck up the status quo. We don't want to do what the commie socialists in the MSM and around the world want us to do. The day that these far out commies and their libnazi terrorist pals get control of our country is the day that our financial system will go belly up, and we can't have that happen or else all our enemies around the world we be the winners of the global economic war on terror.
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