Attention overseas to presidential race unprecendented

[calteacherguy]

Around the world, U.S. campaign close to home
By Alan Cowell
NYT
updated 9:21 p.m. AKT, Fri., Jan. 25, 2008

<snip>

From Berlin to London to Jakarta, the destinies of Democratic and Republican contenders in Iowa or New Hampshire, or Nevada or South Carolina, have become news in a way that most political commentators cannot recall. It is as if outsiders are pining for change in America as much as some American presidential candidates are promising it.

<snip>

“We foreigners can but pray that the new president, whoever he or she may be, will return America to its strengths, values and the tradition of exporting hope and other optimism. And so help to lift America and the world up, not tear one another down.”

In Japan, too, there are hopes for American renewal. “Already the fixed idea, ‘Only a white man can become president,’ has been broken,” the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun said Jan. 15. “We are witnessing the history, the process of grass-roots democracy turning into the U.S. strength.”

<snip>

There is deep interest in the campaign in the West African nation of Senegal, fueled in large part by a dislike of President Bush and a hope that a new president will be more open to immigration and less hostile to Islam.

“I think President Bush is anti-Islamic,” said Mouhamed Souleymane Seydi, 24, a hotel-management student at the University of Dakar. “It’s become much harder for Muslims to immigrate to America or even to visit. If you show up at the airport with a beard and look Arab, you’re going to come under intense scrutiny.”

<snip>

ome outsiders maintain that, for a world seeking a signal of a changed direction in Washington, “the emblematic victory of Obama would immediately change the image of the United States in the world, particularly in developing countries,” as Jorge G. Castañeda, the writer and former Mexican foreign minister, put it.

But there is skepticism in some places that an African-American can actually win the presidency. “Can he win?” an Afro-Cuban cabdriver asked an American visitor in Havana. “I mean, can he win?” he asked, wondering if a black man could be elected in a land that Cubans are taught to see as riven with racism.

<snip>

Curiosity about Mr. Obama is clearly behind the growing interest in the American vote in Brazil, where many citizens have African roots.

<snip>

In Colombia, one of few places in the world that might have some nostalgia for the Bush era, many people seem drawn to Mr. Obama’s bid. “He would focus more on the needs of immigrants, making him the best candidate for Latinos,” said Ernesto Rubio, 39, a doctor in Bogotá.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22849633/page/2/

[denem]

1. They are terriified of Bush III

[AtomicKitten]

2. The historical implications of an Obama presidency would be breathtaking.

America would be viewed in an entirely different light, and that's a second chance America is sorely in need of at this point in history.

[mrmx9]

3. If America wants to repair its reputation in the world then electing Obama would be a big step!

[AtomicKitten]

4. word!

And welcome to DU! :)