In Germany, Obama Has Already Won the Election

Even though his foreign policy is hardly different from that of his predecessors, U.S. President Barack Obama’s poll numbers in Germany have reached heights previously known only for dictators. There is, however, a difference.

The most popular German is an American and lives in the White House. Obama has achieved results from German opinion polls that are normally known only for dictatorships. While Germans generally see Americans as a bit silly, superficial and undifferentiated, more than 90 percent [of Germans] are stalwart supporters of Obama.

In contrast, his challenger Mitt Romney, who is almost even with the president in U.S. polls, got only three percent in German polls. This number is so different that it appears like a statistical mistake. Why is that?

After all, Obama’s foreign policies — as he sends drones into Afghanistan, Somalia or Syria — are not very different from those of his hated predecessor George W. Bush. In doing so, however, Obama appears like an angel of peace and not like a trigger-happy Texan in cowboy boots. It’s the pretty packaging that makes the difference.

Germans Are Suspicious of Wealth

We long for the good and true American, or who we take to be so; we are true romantics like that. We don’t want a religious conservative Republican, and we especially don’t want an immensely wealthy entrepreneur, because we are suspicious of wealth.

In the U.S., pursuit of wealth is part of the constitutionally guaranteed right to pursue happiness. It’s the American Dream. Whoever makes it becomes a role model. This is very different from Germany. Can you think of a candidate for chancellor who has 200 million dollars in the bank?