●International media reaction to the United States presidenti_自考|成考|专升本|高升专|高升本|在职研究生-学历教育网

The cover of Australia's The Age newspaper the day after Obama was elected in November 2008

Following the 2008 United States presidential election, media around the world reacted in a variety of ways. Most expressed positive hopes and expectations for the president-elect, but some tried to prepare their readers for disappointment. Editorials varied from elation to cautious optimism, and a few were outright skeptical. Many celebrated Barack Obama's win as historic and a sign of changing race-relations in the United States. Many commentators said the election results surprised them because there was an international perception that America was too racist to elect a black president. Many also said people in their country were blinded by infatuation with Obama and encouraged them to see him as a normal human being capable of error. Within a week, the excitement and elation subsided somewhat and many newspaper editorials began to caution that Obama had enormous obstacles ahead.

The election was closely watched from around the world and domestic media, including CNN and PBS, tracked the international reaction. Newspapers in most continents covered the electoral outcome on their front pages or as the top story. The Associated Press reported that "Obama-mania was evident not only across Europe but also in much of the Islamic world."

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[edit] Elation

The cover of France's Libération daily newspaper the day after Obama was elected in 2008, which reads "An American Dream"

Pre-election polls showed people around the world preferred candidate Obama to his opponent, John McCain, because they expected relations between the US and the rest of the world to improve if Senator Obama won. Obama had become well-known abroad before the election. He travelled to Europe, and spoke to a crowd of 100,000 in Berlin in July 2008, before he had received the Democratic Party nomination. His relatively young age, appearance, intellect, charm, and oratory skills had made an impression on many non-Americans.

When Obama emerged as the victor, people in many countries were outright ecstatic. An editorial in French daily Libération was headlined "Hope, at Last! For One Day, Let Us Hope!" and encouraged readers to abandon their skepticism and allow themselves to feel joy. "After this already historic November 4th, let us admit that we're caught up, almost all of us, in a sense of joy. For one hour or a day, let us speak with an enthusiasm that is now sweeping the planet. For a few hours, the Americans hope; for a few hours, the whole world feels better."

In Brazil, Folha columnist Sérgio Malbergier wrote "it is so epic and multidimensional that it fills us with amazement and exhilaration." Tracee Hutchison, writing for The Age in Australia, said "It may only be for a moment, but somehow this week's US election result rings like a clarion call for hope and peaceful momentum." Kenya's Daily Nation reported that "excited crowds waved the American flag and carried life-size photos of Mr. Obama." In Swiss newspaper 24 heures (Switzerland), chief editor Thierry Meyer applauded America's overcoming of racism and said Obama "is the embodiment of its lasting dream, its primordial founding virtue: optimism and confidence in its destiny." In another Swiss paper, Nachrichten, commentator Patrik Etschmayer said, "The victory of Barack Obama is historic. Historic, because Obama was an impossible candidate who ran an impossible campaign against all the odds and expectations." Christian Merville wrote for L'Orient Le Jour in Lebanon that Americans had astonished the world: "The miracle is that this is a country which has reconciled with itself after a very long estrangement has a renewed hope for a better future. This, just when everything seemed grey and the most sacred principles - those of democracy, freedom and free enterprise - had lost all meaning."

Even in Iran, which has a history of tense relations with the US, the reaction was positive. The state-controlled Tehran Times wrote, "The world has heaved a collective sigh of relief because their candidate has won the US presidential election."

[edit] Cautious optimism