There are endorsements that no one welcomes, however enthusiastic: Hamas for Obama, Osama for McCain. But what of the entire globe? Barack Obama goes into today’s vote with the overwhelming backing of the world beyond America’s borders in a presidential race that has gripped audiences like no election before.
Obamamania is at fever pitch across Europe, where his ratings regularly exceed 80 per cent. Germany, the Netherlands and France form the cheer-leading front row. Not since John F. Kennedy has France so fallen for a presidential candidate; if citoyens had the vote, Mr Obama would trounce Mr McCain by 72 points.
Urbane, intellectual and idealistic, Mr Obama “is the kind of American we love”, said Jack Lang, a Socialist and the long-serving Culture Minister of the late President Mitterrand. “His is the America of jazz and Fitzgerald and Falconer and Kerouac and Kennedy.”
In Russia, ordinary people are fascinated by the notion that America may elect its first black president, not least because even Moscow has almost no black population. Such is the expectation that Mr Obama will win that matrioshka “Russian nesting” dolls bearing his face have already been spotted for sale at Russian markets.
At an official level, Russia blames the US for the global economic crisis and the government line is that whoever wins must rein in imperialist ambitions and concentrate on the economy. But fears remain that Mr McCain would more hostile to Russia and more hawkish on Georgia, Nato expansionism and the Eastern European antimissile shield.
Georgia, for the same reasons, is one of only three countries backing Mr McCain. The others are the Philippines, where US forces are helping to battle Islamic rebels, and Israel, where 46 per cent would vote for Mr McCain against 34 for Mr Obama. Like Georgia, Israel believes that Mr McCain would be more hawkish on their biggest concerns such as Iran. Israel is also wary of the support for Mr Obama in the Palestinian territories, where Hamas has pledged its unwelcome backing.
Africa’s enthusiasm for the son of a Kenyan-born father is unsurprising. At Makerere University in Uganda, a student politician changed his name to Obama and promptly walked the election for president of the Student Guild. Since then “Obama” has become a generic compliment. “When we were watching football, the best player we call Obama,” said Robert Rutaro, the successful candidate.
“We support Obama not as a person but as a new phenomenon,” Denis Twahika, a student, said. “We look at America as a continent that disenfranchised Africa. If Obama is the president, then when I meet an American I meet a brother. That white-black thing, we become one.”
Less welcome perhaps is the endorsement of President Chávez of Venezuela, as Mr Obama fends off Republican accusations that he will turn American into a socialist state. “We are not asking him to be a revolutionary, to be a socialist, no,” Mr Chávez said gracefully. “We just want the black man who is about to be the US president to have enough stature for the times the world is living through.”
What bearing any of this will have on the domestic vote remains to be seen. Many Obama supporters see his appeal as someone who can repair America’s tainted global reputation so they can, in the words of the American comic Sarah Silverman “travel abroad without having to pretend to be Canadian any more”.
The world’s hopes for the 2004 elections – 53 per cent for John Kerry, 3 per cent for George Bush – had precious little bearing on the outcome.
One of the nations with the least firm opinion was Iraq, where people are awaiting the outcome of the status of forces agreement, which will determine how long US troops remain.
“I am fed up with all the problems in my country and I don’t care any more,” said Zahraa Zuhair, a computer programmer in Baghdad. “I don’t care who wins in the US elections.”
source: timesonline.co.uk
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