The World Prefers Obama

By Cernig

If the rest of the world had a vote in which flavor of American foreign policy they were to see in the next four years, the majority would definitely back Obama.

For much of the world, Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the Democratic primaries was a moment to admire the United States at a time when the nation's image abroad has been seriously damaged.

From hundreds of supporters crowded around televisions in rural Kenya, Obama's ancestral homeland, to jubilant Britons writing "WE DID IT!" on the Brits for Barack discussion board on Facebook, people celebrated what they called an important racial and generational milestone for the United States.

"This is close to a miracle. I was certain that some things will not happen in my lifetime," said Sunila Patel, 62, a widow encountered on the streets of New Delhi. "A black president of the U.S. will mean that there will be more American tolerance for people around the world who are different."

The primary race generated unprecedented interest outside the United States, much of it a reflection of a desire for change from the policies of President Bush, who surveys show is deeply unpopular around the globe. At the same time, many people abroad seemed impressed -- sometimes even shocked -- by the wide-open nature of U.S. democracy, and the history-making race between a woman and a black man.

"The primaries showed that the U.S. is actually the nation we had believed it to be, a place that is open-minded enough to have a woman or an African American as its president," said Minoru Morita, a Tokyo political analyst.

While Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has admirers, especially from her days as first lady, interviews on four continents suggested that Obama is the candidate who has most captured the world's imagination.

"Obama is the exciting image of what we always hoped America was," said Robin Niblett, director of Chatham House, a British foreign policy institute. "We have immensely enjoyed the ride and can't wait for the next phase."

China is worried an Obama White House would be less likely to offshore manufacturing jobs, less likely to watch cheap Chinese imports undercut US-made items and less likely to keep spending like a proflagate, drunken sailor so that China can pick up America's debt as leverage. All of which might seem like good reasons to not give the Chinese what they want. Israel is worried that Obama will be less likely to toe their own militantly hard line in the Middle East - and the Palestinians are just as sceptical that he won't buck AIPAC. The latter seem to have good cause for their worries, as Obama's been getting steadily more hawkish over Iran. (Just not hawkish enough for the crazies who make common cause with Armageddon afficionados.)

Which means there will be the usual mutterings and innuendo from the American hard Right that Americans don't have to, indeed shouldn't, care what the rest of the world thinks. Except Israel, of course. It's the very worst kind of Divine Mandate, American Hegemony mental "isolationism" - one that says the US can act in the world without consideration of blowback, whistling past the graveyard in a manner that is inherently damaging to the American national interest. We've had almost eight years of that mindset.

And make no mistake, the rest of the world will draw up contingency plans in case we have another four years of McSame inflicted upon us. For some, that will involve military build-ups or the use of energy resources to curb that neoconservative belief in the ability of the US to play "bad cop" all the time without consequence. For others, it would mean further drift from old alliances. The idea that America is "bigger, biggest, best" and so can ignore the wishes of all the other kids on the block should pass into history.

Obama has his faults - he's no messiah, and I suspect far more of a clever marketer than an actual agent of change (a la Tony Blair) - but on this issue alone he places himself head and shoulders (literally) above John McCain. Both the world and America need an American "good cop". One that listens, one that asks questions before it shoots.