●International media reaction to the United States presidenti(2)_自考|成考|专升本|高升专|高升本|在职研究生-学历教育网

After Obama's election, commentators were inclined to celebrate, but cautioned readers to not set their expectations too high for the new president-elect. Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, writing for The Jakarta Post said, "Indonesians are just as enamored as the rest of the world. It is an upsurge fueled by sentimentality over rationality." An editorial in Russia's Vedomosti said "Obama will have to confront so many outstanding challenges that he is not to be envied." An editorial by Pierre Haski for Rue 89 in France said Obama "united an even greater majority of the world's citizens who 'voted' for him in spirit" but remarked that his expectations and challenges were enormous:

To say the least, the new president-elect has inspired enormous expectations. For Americans, the priority is the state of their economy, which was the number one topic of the campaign. But in the rest of the world he is also expected to follow through with his promise to break with the Bush era, which is undoubtedly one of the most disastrous in American history.

The cover of The Jakarta Post on the morning after Obama's victory in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, which reads "World awaits new era in U.S."

Former Scottish Minister of State Brian Wilson, writing for Scotland on Sunday said "Dilemmas are already lining up for the president-elect.... Obama's instinct will be to keep America out of new wars, and that is good news for us, since it will also keep Britain out of them." The media of Algeria was no less introspective. K. Selim wrote for Le Quotidien d’Oran, that from the African and Arab persective, Obama was the "least bad" candidate: "We must wait for the euphoria to pass and the time for action to arrive. All evidence suggests that the lines of force in the American system will impose themselves and the best we can hope for is that Obama will take account of the disastrous failures of his predecessor."

Kitabat, a Sunni-leaning newspaper in Iraq, wrote that Obama's election was a "chance to offset Iranian influence." Akil Al Azrak wrote:

With considering how the change in the U.S. after the election victory of Democratic candidate Barack Obama might affect Iraqis, we should remember that the United States is a country of institutions, and the institution of the Presidency only possesses 20 percent of the government's decision-making power. So policy doesn't necessarily change when a new president is elected. But that doesn't imply an absence of change in foreign policy and a new direction in dealing with the problem of Iraq. American history is the best proof of such transformations in foreign policy, as occurred under previous presidents Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.

Mexico City's Excélsior raved that Obama is the "president the planet requires" but wondered if he was too much left of center to get much done in the United States. An editorial in The Australian said Obama's "victory re-affirms our faith in the US as a nation with an exceptional capacity for self-correction" but added it was too early to tell if it would make any difference: "As we sift the clichs and exuberance of the Obama victory, it is clear that November 4, 2008, was a defining day for the US and the world. But it is too early to describe it as transformational.

[edit] Skepticism

A few newspapers were skeptical about Obama's chances at achieving his agenda, and, while acknowledging his election was historic, decried the hype surrounding him. In Kuwait, the newspaper Awan said Arabs should not be taken in by another change of administration: "We repeat it with every US election. We Arabs applaud the newcomer to the White House. We often do this as retribution against the one leaving office who, during his presidency, we accepted like bait put on the hook with our own hands. But not long after the new president arrives we discover that we're kings of illusion as well as kings of impotence." Matthew Parris, wrote from Australia for The Times, that the world to prepare for disappointment: "... for an eight-word expression of hope for the president-elect of the United States. Eight words precisely: 'I hope he will let us down gently.'" Daniel Flitton, the diplomatic editor of Australia's The Age, wrote that Obama's election has done nothing to change the U.S. record on such issues as climate change, the war in Iraq and the Iranian nuclear predicament and that "the American presumption to lead does breed resentment."

[edit] Reflections on race