●International media reaction to the United States presidenti(3)_自考|成考|专升本|高升专|高升本|在职研究生-学历教育网

Many publications used Obama's election to reflect on their country's own race relations or to comment on America's. An editorial in Russia's Vedomosti business daily did not praise Obama, but focused instead on America's ability to elect a black man in contrast with Russia's inability to elect someone from an ethnic minority.

With Obama's victory, the societies of other countries with large racial and ethnic minority populations, in particular France and Britain, will reconsider the possibility of electing non-White leaders. For Russia, home to 130 nationalities and where minorities constitute about 20 percent of the population (in the United States it's 31 percent), this is not an idle question. The majority of ethnic Russian citizens in our country - 64 percent of the population according to the Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion - are against someone of a different nationality heading the government. Russia has yet to internalize the possibility of the emergence of a "non-Russian" and non-Eastern Orthodox president.

Charles Hawley wrote for Germany's Der Spiegel that “America, many Europeans were certain, was far too racist a country to elect a black man to occupy the White House.” Greg Sheridan, foreign editor at The Australian wrote that "The left liberal caricature of America was always nonsense. The militarism of American society is vastly overstated, just as its profound willingness to make sacrifice for other people's freedom is under-appreciated." Moises Naim, writing for El Diario de Yaracuy in Venezuela wrote that for a black man to become president of the U.S. was "simply unimaginable."

The color of his skin was not the insurmountable obstacle that the entire world thought would destroy Obama's political career. Does this mean that there is no racism in the United States and that the color of Obama's skin played no role whatsoever in the election? Absolutely not. But the fact is that for millions of his US supporters, Obama's race was less important than other factors. This is more surprising to the rest of the world than it is to the people of the United States.

An unsigned opinion piece in China's state-controlled Global Geographic Weekly said Obama had staged his own "color revolution." An editorial in Kenya's Daily Nation said the country is proud of Obama and finds him an inspiration: "To Africa and the entire black race, Mr. Obama is the vindication of our humanity. He is our evidence that there is nothing really wrong with us, that our lack of success is not because our genes predispose us to be stupid but because we have not dared to dream big enough dreams."

[edit] Reflections on internal politics

The front page of the Toronto Star after Barack Obama's 2008 election, which reads, "A dream fulfilled"

Laurent Joffrin, writing for Libération, hoped Obama's victory would reinvigorate Europe's left: "Progressives had the idea of progress stolen from them. Now they have taken it back. What a lesson for the European left, which has been weakened, has no real plans and, above all, lacks a new ideal!" Le Monde wrote that the "Obama phenomenon" could serve as an example to all French political parties. At another French paper, Le Figaro, an editorial by Paul-Henri du Limbert said the French could "learn a lesson" from Obama's election: "We reproached “Sarkozy the American” for loving the country, its values and its way of life, but today we have realized that this wasn't such a terrible lack of good taste." Magdalena roda, writing for Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza, said she envied Americans their Obama: "I envy Americans their political engagement, which doesn't exhaust itself with the act of voting or posting election fliers. Americans debate, go door to door and travel to different states in order to convert others to their point of view. This is how a political culture is born and a capital of social trust is established, which, irrespective of who wins the election, remains an important national asset - a thing Poland still painfully lacks." In an online discussion at The Indian Express, an unknown writer and commenters debated whether India could have its own Obama:

Maybe a presidential system [that] allows a single individual to embody the aspirations of a party in a way that parliamentary structures don’t [sic] permit, but what are the chances of a ground-level referendum generating a Dalit or Muslim contender at the helm of affairs of either party, even if s/he was fitted out with all the qualifications of an Obama?

[edit] Reflections on Bush