Jubilation in Sydney: Students at the University of Sydney react to the announcement that Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States. (Rob Griffith/AP)
What Obama’s election means abroad
Barack Obama’s victory was met with euphoria in many nations by those who see him as restoring their faith in American ideals.
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer/ November 5, 2008 edition
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A sampling of reaction to Sen. Barack Obama's election from different parts of the globe.
Itsuo Inouye/AP
Obama girls, a hula dance group formed in honor of Barack Obama's Hawaiian heritage, performed in celebration of Obama's victory in the election.
Johannesburg, South Africa
As Wednesday dawned rainy and gray on the Champs- Élysées, a Parisian waiter spontaneously gave a fist pump and shouted, “Obamamania! Yeah!”
The world, which has tracked this American election like no other, sees Barack Hussein Obama as their president, their choice. And they see him through their own geographical and cultural prisms. To many, he represents the restoration of faith in American democratic ideals, of equality. The global euphoria over the election of the first black US president is also partly an expression of a populace that wants to believe that the same principles can apply to their lives, too.
Of course, as the son of a Kenyan goatherd, he’ll be Africa’s man at the White House, say Kenyans. But his appeal seems to transcend his heritage or his skin color. In Pakistan, for example, where politics has been the province of a wealthy elite, Mr. Obama is a powerful symbol for the dispossessed masses. Yes, he went to Harvard University. But also went to a Muslim elementary school in Indonesia. “They will say, ‘He is one of us,’” says Rasul Baksh Rais, a political scientist at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
In Saudi Arabia, many young Saudis have been affectionately using his middle name, dubbing him “Abu Hussein,” or “Father of Hussein.” Here, he symbolizes a restoration of faith in the democratic freedoms that Saudis don’t yet have. “Saudis … did not really believe in the American version of democracy. How could they when all the presidents of the so-called ‘melting pot’ were Anglo,” writes Eman Al-Nafjan in her post on the Saudiwoman’s Weblog. “But now they are rubbing their eyes in disbelief.”
Similarly, Liu Na, a high school teacher in Beijing, China, said Wednesday that “his victory proves that there is real democracy in the United States.” She added, “He is not from a family of profound influence…. Obama has a very international background, which represents America’s special situation; so many citizens are immigrants. He relied on his own hard work and abilities to go so far.”
The Anti-Bush reaction
The global enthusiasm for Obama also has a lot to do with the way the world views America in the post-9/11 world. It’s a reaction. Even America’s allies had grown tired of the Bush administration’s dogged go-it-alone unilateralism in its war on terror, and later its appeals for help in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The current financial crisis, seeded in decades of laissez-faire regulation of American banks and hedge funds, also persuaded many that America needed new leadership. But while global citizens knew they couldn’t cast votes, it was clear that they felt they had as much at stake in the US presidential elections – and indeed, in the very idea of America as a democracy – as Americans do.
“His [Obama’s] message is so powerful for Africans: Yes we can,” says David Monyae, an independent political analyst in Johannesburg. “If an African-American can do it and become president, then people in Africa think, maybe black nations can also do it, and achieve prosperity, and people who are struggling for democracy in Zimbabwe can do it, and those in power can do what is in their power to change their countries for the better.”
In Europe, the meaning of Obama is tied up with the meaning of America in a very real sense. Obama has tapped what has long been a “universalist” strain in French thinking, political scientists say – in part, that all individuals are equal and owed that equality.
“Obama will bring a new trust in America around the world. We can now think of ourselves dreaming again with the Americans, dreaming about better relations, about a real future,” says Harold Herman, a lawyer in a Paris firm. “For eight years, we’ve not been able to think of ourselves in a real relationship with America, and it is not what we wanted. But now, new things are possible. The US, Europe, and Africa all have new possibilities for the future.”
Dominique Moisi, a leading Paris intellectual, echoes the euphoric mood: “This is a Copernican revolution in the image of the US.”
In Montreal’s Haitian community, Obama’s visage has become ubiquitious, as iconic as Che Guevara. Sixty-four-year-old Haitian immigrant Jean-Michel Baptiste says he’s sold hundreds of Obama T-shirts from in his small ethnic grocery store in recent weeks.
“I never ever thought I would live to see a historic moment like this,” said Mr. Baptiste Tuesday night. “A page in history has been written. A black has been elected as the president of the most powerful country in the world,” he said.
Even though Canada has a Haitian-born woman, Michaelle Jean, as its governor-general (a titular representative of the Queen of England), Baptiste says it’s not comparable. “Look, she was appointed to her position. Obama earned his position by merit. He was chosen by the American people to be their commander-in-chief.”
Louis Balthazar, a political scientist at the University of Quebec in Montreal, offers some insight into Obama’s popularity in Canada. “Firstly, he’s not [George W.] Bush. He represents something different. He’s not arrogant or domineering. His approach is respectful and cooperative.”
Professor Balthazar says that the jubilation in the Haitian community is understandable. Obama’s election sends a strong message throughout the world about minorities. “It’s a lesson to other countries, to us in particular. It’s an inspiration for us,” he says. Of late, there has been a growing backlash to cultural minorities in the province of Quebec.
“People are happy because he is of our color,” says Tariq Bashir Mohamed Kheir, a Sudanese engineer, sitting down to an early morning cup of tea in Khartoum, Sudan. “It will break the view of Americans…. They see blacks as inferior to whites….”
Laurent Joffrin, editor of the French daily newspaper Libération, wrote in his Wednesday column, “Obama’s story shows that identity is not a fact of nature that locks men up inside their births, but [is shaped] by a conscious adherence to democratic principles…. Does that seem hypothetical or abstract? Maybe. But for an hour, a day, let’s believe in it. For the first time in a long time, the New World deserves its name.”
End of multilateralism
In Beijing, Chinese leaders hope that Obama “will fundamentally shift from [President George] Bush’s unilateralism to multilateralism and give serious concern to cooperation with Europe, China, and Japan,” says Yan Xuetong, a professor of international relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Over the past eight years, he added, America has come to be seen abroad as “selfish, violent, and applying double standards. Obama can redeem America’s international image.”
For Russia, the election comes after several years of deteriorating relations rooted in differences over the invasion of Iraq, NATO’s expansion, and, more recently, in the August war between Russian and Georgia. But Elina Kirichenko, head of North American studies at the official Institute of World Economy and International Relations in Moscow, says that Obama’s election is “a very important signal to the world. Americans are saying they want changes. The fact that Obama is young, and is not a child of the cold war, is very hopeful. During the campaign he seemed much more flexible than McCain and spoke more about common interests of the world’s peoples.”
In New Delhi, Teerna Khurana, a strategic consultant, lists all the ways that Obama could be a bad choice for India. He might reconsider Bush’s recently concluded deal to sell nuclear technology to India. Obama has also stated his desire to keep more jobs in the US, potentially undercutting India’s greatest economic success story – outsourcing. And his desire to find a solution to regional insecurity in Pakistan and Afghanistan could resurrect the issue of Kashmir.
Yet Ms. Khurana is overjoyed at Obama’s election. “It’s good for America, it’s good for the world,” she says, before adding, “the only question is if it’s good for India.”
In Tokyo, “many people feel relieved” by Obama’s victory, says Minoru Morita, a political analyst. “It proves the soundness of America. Many Japanese believe Obama will work with other world leaders to put the world on the right track.”
Skepticism in Iraq and Latin America
While change may be welcome in some quarters, Obama is met with skepticism in parts of the Arab world.
Rahim Sabri, owner of a popular breakfast restaurant in Baghdad, waves off Obama’s promise to end the war in Iraq. “Obama is also the face of the occupier,” he says. “US troops … are at a crossroads: Either withdraw or stay forever.”
But some Iraqis see Obama as a symbol of change that will affect them. “Obama is different. This time I am optimistic,” says Jassim Attiya, a high school physics teacher. “We are fed up with colonial white faces; people want to end the US presence in Iraq.”
Many Mexicans worry that Obama has said he’d reconsider negotiating parts of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Still, “Obama winning means there is a real alternation in power,” says Dan Lund, an American pollster based in Mexico City. “They are fascinated by this.”
In Venezuela, residents there say they see parallels between the first black president in the US and their own president, Hugo Chávez, who represented a change from the old power elite.
In Bolivia, now governed by its first indigenous president, people see a similar parallel, says Eduardo Gamarra, a political scientist at Florida International University: “Bolivians and especially those who favor Evo Morales are looking at Obama with some expectations there.”
• Contributing to this story: Zhang Yajun from Beijing; Caryle Murphy from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Scott Peterson from Baghdad; Robert Marquand from Paris; Fred Weir from Moscow; Nachammai Raman from Montreal; Sara Miller Llana from Mexico City; Heba Aly from Khartoum, Sudan; Rob Crilly from Nairobi, Kenya; Mark Sappenfield from New Delhi; Peter Ford from Obama, Japan, and Takehiko Kambayashi in Tokyo.
Comments
2. Christopher Grove | 11.05.08
I am hopeful that a new paradigm shift from “us-and-them” to “all-of-us” can take place in America from every level, local, regional to global.
This is what we need and Mr. Obama SEEMS to see this need. Hopefully, enlightenment will hold fear at bay.
-Christopher Robert Grove
3. Hil | 11.05.08
I always liked Obama as USA president. However, always his wife, daughters and in-lows are present in public meetings. We even met in TV and magazines his Kenian part of his family. However, we never have the chance to see in TV his maternal family, his sister, his sister daughter, his “white” second and third degree cousins.
Seeing his “white” and his “euro-asiatic” (sister, niece) part of his family will help to have a better picture of this man.
4. Arn S | 11.05.08
It’d be nice if the Canadian people voted for a First Nations or Inuit prime minister. If not, the next best thing is a First Nation or Inuit governor-general. But Baptiste had a good point. Barak Obama was voted in by the people. I read in the U.K. media that Obama got in due to the economic crisis in the U.S. not because of his skin colour. This is good because it shows America’s confidence in Obama as president, and they are not prejudiced by his skin colour.
5. Brad Williams | 11.05.08
“laissez-faire regulation” — that oxymoron made me rub my eyes in disbelief.
6. Arn S | 11.05.08
Of course I put a duplicate comment to get your attention but good point you have. Cheers!
7. LBEG | 11.05.08
Thank you Christian Science Monitor, for gathering all this info from around the world. One observation from France, that the US can once again be viewed as “the New World” with our new minority president-elect, indicates heightened world interest in our nation that the CSM is uniquely able to access with its reporters around the globe. Your contributions are invaluable.
8. Joe | 11.05.08
As one of the young Americans who voted for Obama, I just want to say to everyone that I know things haven’t been easy, but we really do want to change them for the better. If you look at the vote of all the young people, you’ll see why things are changing. The older generations are passing on and we’re taking control.
Hopefully, we can turn the page and work for a better tomorrow, but we’ll have to do it together.
9. JMG | 11.05.08
I’m excited by the idea that this will seriously deflate the single biggest recruiting tool used by Bin Laden and Al Qaeda - that America is nothing but a bunch of imperialist white devils who would crush Islam.
In fact, Bin Laden publicly endorsed John McCain, knowing that the only way to further his efforts was a continuation of Bush policies.
Of course, their message already had no basis in reality, and they were drawing broad assumptions based on stereotypes and misinformation…
But it’s going to be much harder for our enemies to make the case that we’re evil after yesterday’s results.
It’s certainly important to crush terrorism and capture and kill those who would kill us - but it’s also effective when you can nip your enemy’s crusade before it even has a chance to materialize.
The white supremacist movement, so prevalent just 50 years ago, is largely a neutered shadow of its former self not because of militant attacks against their power base, but because America proved their beliefs are stupid and wrong. Membership faded with every day that passed where a person of color did the right thing and showed their intelligence, until now you have to be seriously out of touch with reality to be considered a white supremacist.
I can see a similar thing happening to the Islamic extremists.
A potential Al Qaeda recruit now will have to say “wow, maybe America isn’t the great Satan if they are willing to elect a black guy named Hussein.”
The election of Obama may be the single biggest contributor to a drop in the terrorist threat.
10. JBBW | 11.05.08
Obama will be able to do Bush was never able to do and that McCain only had a small chance to do - become a world leader. He needs to use the goodwill he is receiving to unite people. I believe he can do it.
Finally, a president I can listen to without something in the back of my mind saying “liar!”. It’s been more than a decade…
11. jerry rubin | 11.05.08
One correction. He did not go to a Muslim school in Indonesia. That has been confirmed by many sources.
12. Mok Stuart | 11.05.08
As a Senior Officer in the South Pacific. I have never felt secured with the Americans until today. America needs to be more friendly to the outside world and I hope Obama and his administration can do that Win the hearts of the world and believe me they will follow any thing thats American. God has blessed America.
13. Albert Haberle, DVM | 11.05.08
Obama is actually like a tribal peace agreement where there was conflict.
Me, an old white professional man, who worked hard but never had anyone hate me because of something I had no control over, as color, or family background, feel I could put my arm about Obama and say thank you for not being mad at me or mine.
Of course Obama is leagues ahead of me in his abilities and that makes me feel good to be now on my team — sort of in my tribe.
Might that we all find joy and hope in a family so big that it includes all mankind.
AJH
14. John French | 11.05.08
I am an expatriate living in Costa Rica, and this article does a great job of expressing both my feelings and those of my Central American friends and colleagues. We all hope that this election signals a major shift in the world view of the US government, but our enthusiasm is tempered by a history of modified, if not broken, promises.
15. Fawler | 11.05.08
Obama presidency is good for Kenya.( Ralia Odinga is Obama’s cousin. Obama campaighned in 2006 for him in Kenya.)
Good for Muslim countries. Bad for American democracy, because this is the first time almost all main stream medias attempted to make him win, minimizing his big problems which are never accepted as CIA and FBI employee credential. Maximizing his opponents’ unimportant private matters.
Many people in the world who are intelligent enough to understand expressed the same anxiety, “Death of American democracy”
If Medias manipulate every election, we should call it “Dictatorship”
Great to have a black president! Ironically, Civil right movement was achieved
by the death of democracy.
16. Marcos Anilton | 11.05.08
Now America is back to where it should have never been away from:the true ideals of the Founding Fathers. We from Brazil look up to America from today on as the as an example to follow.
18. James | 11.05.08
You do realize that Hawaii is part of the United States, right? Having the Obama hula girlsas part of this article is misleading.
19. Henry Pelifian | 11.05.08
The backdrop for Obama’s victory was the lack of competence and recklessness of the Bush-Cheney era. There is little correlation of a background of financial wealth and excellent credit ratings to political and governmental excellence, for Bush-Cheney had neither competence nor seasoned judgment, only an endless supply of missteps. It also does on reflect well on Congress for permitting the unrestrained antics and policies of Bush-Cheney regime.
Hopefully, the new president can undo and repair the damage done to the country and the world!
20. Bijan | 11.05.08
Great article. It’s exciting to already read about thoughtful optimism from around the world.
21. Elizabeth Longmire | 11.05.08
Obama, has dignity, integrity, universal respect for all people, and a strong mission
for world peace and unity, already lifting up our hearts in hope and good will.
22. Kevin Rich | 11.05.08
Yesterday was definitely historical. Yesterday’s election results were nothing less than a modern day American revolution. Millions of frustrated, disenchanted, pissed-off Americans stood up yesterday and in one united voice said ENOUGH. Mr. President you now hold or hopes in your hands. We as collective Americans have empowered you. Don’t disappoint us.
23. kalyan chatterjee | 11.06.08
Many Indians are not sure what Obama’s election as US president could mean for themselves. Whether he proves “profitable” for India or not is a debatable question in terms of job outsourcing or the nuclear deal. But the fact that it is possible for a widely-perceived “underdog” to become the most powerful man on earth through the democratic process itself is a revolutionary confidence booster for all peoples who have felt themselves to be somehow inferior to the white man. And this sentiment is true of Indians who have themselves suffered from this inferiority complex due to long years of British rule.
It should also come as a blow to incorrigibly “colour” conscious Indians who hold that fair is better than dark skin colour. After all, the most powerful man in the world is a non-white.
24. lightnin | 11.06.08
To all of the Obama supporters, whatever your reason for supporting him: We who opposed Obama will extend him and your chosen party EXACTLY the same sort of support, cooperation, and assistance that you have so generously and enthusiastically given President Bush for the past 8 years, and we will ENJOY doing so, just as YOU have all this time. In fact, we’ll try to be even MORE generous! Elephants have LONG memories, you know.
25. Steve F | 11.06.08
We might want to dial down the hyperbole. There are WAY TOO MANY problems facing the U.S. for anyone to use these accolades. Russia just stated they’re positioning missiles on the Polish border; two active, “hot” wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the state of affairs between Israel and its Arab neighbors; foreign energy dependence; financial ruin for thousands of U.S. families due to the mortgage-backed securities debacle. Obama’s ability to deal with issues will define his Presidency, not the over-ecstatic pontificating of the world.
26. Rahla Lindsey | 11.07.08
For many of us who, in the 60’s, marched, protested, sat, hugged, loved, cared, did what we could and generally worked for change - this is a historic time. Very humbling. The work continues, of course, but we are filled with hope. Hang in there, all. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but with patience, we will all change the world — one person, one idea at a time. Gratitude.
27. Ronald R.J. Montpetit | 11.07.08
I salute, thank, and identify with everyone who took the time to respond above to the Christian Science Monitor’s article, “What Obama’s election means abroad.”
I am from Canada and I greatly rejoiced over the win of the now “President Elect,” Mr. Barak “Abu Hussein” Obama. God bless you Barak, and the entire world forever.
Only time will tell if Mr. Obama signals real change and whether or not the United States will become less of a consumer society and more of an enabler of others on the globe. We Canadians are not different. We are also in great need of “change.”.
Until then, nothing has been achieved, in the United States, or in Canada, except in words.
Move on, my great southern neighbours, and take the planet and its people along with you. You are the country now best positioned to lead the entire world.
From a Canadian friend…who is now more hopeful that its closest neighbour, largest trading partner and military ally will once again join hands with us in friendship, change, and the consideration of a little more introspection into how we do unto others.
Sincere congratulations to Mr Obama, his loved ones and all Americans! Yes – you can do it!
28. Alan Bernstein | 11.07.08
From an American friend who is presently working as a refugee aid in Lira Uganda:
“I have to say that it has been pretty amazing to see the election from this side of the world. I wear the Obama08 pin that you gave me on the front of my hat, and I have had some Ugandans see it and ask me in stunned amazement,” you would vote for a black man for president of your country?” I can immediately feel some sort of bonding and healing occur as I smile and say most definitely. Having Obama elected as president is doing a lot to heal the damaged psyche caused by racism and colonialism. At some level, I think that people here are ashamed of the poverty in their lives and in their country. Obama gives people a reason to hope and strive for something better in their lives. It is truly amazing the joy and pride they have in him.”
29. Tom Stafford | 11.07.08
As a U.S. expat living in Costa Rica, I am glad that Mr. Obama won and that I can now hold my head up a bit higher and not have to continually explain that not all Americans agree with the Bush&Co. policies. I did not vote for Mr. Obama but I almost did. I stopped voting for the Lesser of Two evils after the Nixon fiasco. Only after checking carefully that Obama did, infact, have a lock on the California vote, did I vote for my favorite alternative-party candidate. I can only hope that he will do the right thing and restore my and the world’s hope in what the U.S. should stand for. My fingers are crossed.
Tom Stafford
30. Jan Elding | 11.07.08
Well, the world got interested in the US election because everyone noticed how a pain the US can be for everyone (worst polluter, invasions, etc.)
Everybody now hopes that the noxiousness of the US will decrease a little bit. But unfortunately for many, this noxiousness doesn’t lie so much in the way its leadership behaves (although it’s true to some extent) but mostly in the own interests of the country. And the election of Obama hasn’t changed any fundemental interests of the USA. Only a major changing in the way of life of Americans would achieve that.
I’m afraid that Bush or Obama, it’s the same cake with only a different icing. Thos who only watch will swear it’s different but those who have to eat some won’t be fooled for long.
31. SASWATA SEN | 11.08.08
It’s very unlikely that obama’s efforts will be reflected in US foreign policy–constantly and immutably dictated by American needs perceived under the Monroe doctrine–that will continue to hold USA as ‘the ever self-righteous’ vanguard of globalism. Hey, can somebody tell me what happened to Obama’s sibling and next-of-kin on his fathers side? Is it black skin and blue-white blood solely for Obama and his nuclear family ?
32. M Raghavan | 11.08.08
As a second generation Asian Indian American, I find India’s skepticism about Obama disturbing. While the country speaks of some sort of understanding with Pakistan, evidence from the recent bombings of major populaton centers show direct ties between local terrorist cells and Al Qaeda, whose training bases dot the country of Pakistan.
It is high time that practicality take precedence over idealism. A clear resolution of the Kashmir issue, whether through military means or diplomatic ones requires a strong leader and mediator - and Obama is showing that he fits that role quite well.
33. Travis | 11.09.08
Kudos to Obama’s victory, and to the CS Monitor’s interest in world opinions of his election, but image is not everything. In the transition to governance, it is imperative that the American public, media, and congress do their part to hold Obama’s administration accountable to the promised shift of direction in international policy. The promise of a renewed image must take concrete shape in renewed policies in regions often abused by American presence in the past, namely Latin America and the Middle East. Let the hard work of governance, media watchdogging, and public activism begin.
34. Jill | 11.09.08
Jill, from Manila. The night of Obama’s election I stopped for gas. I was wearing an Obama t-shirt. The people in the car at the next pump rolled down their windows and congratulated me. Today, two Filipino vendors at a stall on a mountainside said how happy they were Obama will be president. Every Filipino I’ve met since the election is happy about what they see as an essential change, a hope for repairing the global economy.
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1. mike | 11.05.08
i see AID to africa increase 10 folds