Europe’s Obama Distraction

If Europeans could vote for the next U.S. President today, we would elect Barack Obama, with a noticeable majority over his Republican rival, John McCain. At least that is what some recently published surveys assert. What is even more noteworthy is that the Democratic candidate also exacts a victory among the right-wing European electorate. Surprises will never cease.

If one wishes to speculate, one can think of reasons, not all of them reasonable. Barack Obama has already for months been monopolizing the attention of TV news and the front pages of newspapers because of his hard struggle against Hillary Clinton, while John McCain, who prevailed very quickly over his Republican rivals, has been until now hardly noticed by the foreign media. Obama is young, offers an optimistic picture of the future, and belongs to a racial minority that that was once discriminated against – traits that always strike a compassionate chord.

So much can be said about the power of image and its limitations that very little has been said about Obama’s agenda, which, as far as social politics are concerned, is diametrically opposed to what is championed by the conservative European electorate. By contrast, John McCain’s agenda connects perfectly with the concerns of the right and center voter – defense of life, liberty, and the family, as well as an approach to illegal immigration that is more sensible than the one currently presented by the Republican Party.

However, it is in foreign policy that the European electorate needs to know with whom it is dealing. John McCain has spent many years forging alliances with European personalities, while the Democratic candidate is absolutely new at foreign policy matters and is only interested in the domestic agenda. When he speaks about international conflicts, the slips of Barack Obama are memorable, but they are beyond the grasp of an electorate that, largely, would not be able to locate Spain on a map.