US Campaign Captivates a World Hungry for a Change From President Bush
WILLIAM J. KOLE
AP News
Feb 01, 2008 06:30 EST
Germans are gaga over Barack Obama. He's got Japan pretty jazzed, too,
along
with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Russia's leaders, not so much: They prefer a
Republican - as long as it's not Kremlin critic John McCain.
And Mexico's president? He doesn't have much use for any of them.
America's extraordinary presidential campaign has captivated politicians
and
ordinary people around the globe. With so much at stake in the race for
the
White House, the world is watching with an intensity that hasn't been seen
since the Clinton era began in 1992.
After eight years of President Bush, the latest mantra in U.S. politics -
"transformational change" - is resonating across the rest of a planet
desperate for a fresh start.
"They feel there's a real chance to work with the U.S.," said Julianne
Smith, a senior fellow at the Wa****ngton-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies. "America's image in the world is really on the
line."
Non-Americans, she said, are looking for someone who can "restore faith in
the United States."
Obama, perhaps not surprisingly, is generating most of the buzz abroad.
"Der schwarze Kennedy," some German admirers are calling him: "The black
JFK."
"He is young, charming and ***y!" the mass-circulation newspaper Bild
gushed. "Obama is now the ideal projection screen for hopes and
expectations
in Europe" and the U.S. alike, said Christian Hacke, a professor at the
University of Bonn.
"I like him. I like his ideas, his attitude, his appearance. I prefer him
to
Hillary Clinton, who is more artificial," said Eva Berto, a Rome doctor
who
thinks Obama would bring a new approach to the crisis in Iraq and the
nuclear standoff with Iran.
Japanese media are closely tracking both Obama and the woman they refer to
simply as "Hillary," and focusing on the possibility that either could
make
history.
"The idea since the country's founding - 'You can't become president if
you're not a white man' - has already been destroyed," the Mainichi
newspaper said in an editorial.
But in Europe, where some see Obama as untested, sup****t for Clinton is
widespread, and nostalgia for her husband's charisma runs deep. When
scandals rocked the Clinton White House, most Europeans responded with a
Gallic shrug.
"Nobody in Europe ever took Bill Clinton's problems in office seriously,"
said Patrick Dunleavy, a political scientist at the London School of
Economics. "Nobody could ever understand why Americans were so upset. Bill
Clinton was always a fantastic presence in Europe."
The Republican presidential hopefuls, by contrast, are not highly regarded
in Europe: Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are seen as too religious, and
the
71-year-old McCain as too old.
To Britons, history's most popular postwar presidents were Jimmy Carter
and
Bill Clinton because of their perceived levelheadedness and intelligence,
said Dunleavy. The most despised? President Bush and Ronald Reagan
"because
they were seen as erratic and unpredictable," he said.
Yet Democrats don't rule the entire world of public opinion.
Saad al-Hadithi, a political analyst in Baghdad, contends the Republican
candidates are more committed to Iraq and have a better approach.
"They show more sup****t to the political progress and to combating
terrorist
groups in Iraq," he said. "The Democrats, especially Hillary Clinton, are
calling for the withdrawal of U.S. forces, but they are not offering an
alternative. Such a withdrawal while the Iraqi security forces are still
weak will lead to disastrous results."
Russia's leaders also consider Republicans more pragmatic, said Nkolai
Petrov, an analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center.
But the Kremlin, Petrov said, would likely have "serious concerns" if
McCain
wins the Republican nomination because of the Arizona senator's harsh and
persistent criticism of Vladimir Putin's autocratic government.
Others in Russia are drawn to the lively U.S. campaign if only because
it's
such a sharp contrast to Moscow's tightly choreographed March 2
presidential
election - a contest that Putin's favored successor, Dmitry Medvedev, is
seen as certain to win.
Africans naturally gravitate toward Obama, whose father was from Kenya.
Israelis, though, seem to prefer Hillary Clinton - even though Obama has
voiced sup****t for key Israeli demands in peace talks with the
Palestinians - because of her experience and the backing Bill Clinton gave
to the Jewish state during his two terms as president.
Amid the raging debate over immigration, Mexicans arguably have more at
stake in the U.S. election than any other nation. But President Felipe
Calderon doesn't think very highly of any of the candidates.
"The only theme," he declared in December, "is to compete to see who can
be
the most swaggering, macho and anti-Mexican."
In the post-Bush era, the bottom line is blunt and simple, Dunleavy said.
"People all around the world are pretty worried," he said. "They want a
president who will restore a kind of U.S. legitimacy in the world."
___
Associated Press writers Matt Moore in Berlin, Sameer N. Yacoub in
Baghdad,
Steve Gutterman in Moscow, Bernd Bergmann in Rome, Natacha Rios in Paris
and
Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this re****t.
Source: AP News
It's not the Dem's responsibiity to fix Bush's mess.
In a world going mad with war, genocide and infanticide due to the Bush
Administration's policies and actions, the world is hungry for the
knowledge
that people can be human and would like to see other humans act like
humans,
instead of like mad dogs, slavering hyenas and gorging wolves.
|
