HOME / foreigners: Opinions about events beyond our borders.

Disappointing the WorldDoes international enthusiasm for Barack Obama hurt him?

By Shmuel RosnerPosted Wednesday, April 9, 2008, at 6:47 AM ET

Barack ObamaOn the eve of the 2004 U.S. presidential election, my paper, Israel's Ha'aretz, was one of 10 foreign newspapers that participated in a survey organized by Britain's Guardian. The question: Who did the world want to be the next president of the United States?

RSS

The response, based on identical public opinion polls conducted in the 10 countries, was not very surprising. The world "back[ed] the Democratic challenger by a margin of two to one." In Canada, 60 percent favored John Kerry, 20 percent George W. Bush. In France, it was 72 percent to 16 percent. In Japan, 51 percent to 30 percent. In South Korea, 68 percent to 18 percent. Russia and Israel were the only countries in which a majority supported a second term for Bush.

Americans were aware of this phenomenon. "By roughly two-to-one (43%-23%), Americans say the decline in respect for the U.S. from other countries represents a major problem," reported the Pew Research Center just a couple of months before the 2004 vote. Americans recognized the problem, but they rejected the remedy—they went ahead and voted for Bush again.

Apparently, Americans care what the rest of the world thinks about them, but not as much as Kerry would have liked. Or Barack Obama for that matter.

"Many around the world have lost respect for America and the hope that America once gave them. That's a tragedy," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., when he endorsed Obama in January. In all the articles published by the top-tier presidential candidates in Foreign Affairs, one of the few areas where there was almost unanimous agreement was the need to improve America's image abroad.

"We need a president who can reintroduce America to the world and reintroduce America to ourselves," said Leahy. Samantha Power, the Obama adviser who resigned after calling Hillary Clinton a "monster," told Britain's Telegraph that "Obama can go door-to-door in Europe and say, 'Look like you I opposed the war in Iraq but what are we going to do together about Al Qaeda?' "

Obama supporters can easily find anecdotal data to support their claim that he is the world's favorite. When the Democratic National Committee decided to hold its first global primary earlier this year, more than 20,000 Democrats in 164 countries cast their ballots, and 66 percent of them voted for Obama. If it's possible for Americans to be influenced by the opinions of people living in other countries, these voters would arguably be the first to fall.

Reading European newspapers and magazines only reinforces the view that Obama is the world's favorite candidate. Consider, for example, a recent issue of Germany's Der Spiegel, whose cover read, "The Messiah Factor: Barack Obama and the Longing for a New America." America, observed the magazine, "wants to be loved again." Another German magazine, the Atlantic Times, declared Obama to be "Germany's favorite politician at the moment." And a columnist in Portugal wrote that "[d]efinitively, Barack Obama is the candidate of Europe." Such sentiments are often repeated in conversations with Arab columnists from all across the Middle East. "Obama seems to have the lead among Europeans and Africans," observed the Wall Street Journal. (It gave China and Mexico to Clinton.)

In 2008, as in 2004, Americans want a president who can heal the image wounds of the Bush era. (According to Pew, a "low regard for President Bush is more heavily correlated with an unfavorability rating for the United States than is any other attitude or opinion tested.") A poll for World Learning and the Aspen Institute found that "nearly nine in ten Americans (88 percent) believe that it is very important for other countries to have a favorable opinion of Americans."

Presumably, Obama will be able to use these sentiments both at home, for political purposes, and, if elected, abroad, to achieve his diplomatic goals.