Europe is Betting on Obama

Europe is supporting Barack Obama in the American presidential election. The French, Germans, British, and Italians decided that they prefer the black senator from Illinois over the Republican candidate, John McCain, reports the findings in a “Daily Telegraph” poll.

Sixty-five percent of the French said that they would vote for Obama if they could, compared to a mere eight percent who said they would vote for McCain. Similar statistics exist in other countries. In Italy, seventy percent prefer the black candidate over his 72 year old Republican competitor. Even in Great Britain, who throughout the George W. Bush era supported him in the war with Iraq, support Obama in greater numbers than they support his rival.

“Europe is attracted to Obama because he carries certain freshness with him. His moving speeches separate him from the technical and boring politicians to which many have become accustomed,” says Dziennik’s reporter Lothar Probst from the University of Bremen. The voices in favor of the senator from Illinois are ringing out throughout every country. “In France, they love him because he is breaking the stereotype that America is a superpower that wants to impose its will on the rest of the world, promoting a wild capitalism, and disgusting food,” says American specialist Charlotte Lepri. Germans, who view Obama as a young Kennedy, see him as a multi-cultured and gentle, elegant aristocrat. “Most importantly, Europeans prefer Obama because he reminds them less of Bush than McCain does,” says Probst.

The results of a public poll are also a significant sign of why there is so much support for Obama, and show that after eight years of the Bush presidency, the European opinion of the US is a fatal one. In 2000, 2/3 of the British and French populations saw America as an “effective force that works towards a better world.” Currently, hardly 1/3 these populations see America in a positive light, and almost fifty percent of the population see America as an “evil power.” “The Europeans believe that if Obama moved into the White House, he would bring back all the positive factors once associated with American politics. He would fix the rift between the left and right sides and would improve the relations with the Old Continent [Europe],” says Gary Smith, the director of the American Academy in Berlin. Yet, this opinion may be illusory, since the black senator rarely speaks about Europe.