Across the globe, pundits and politicians of all stripes competed for hyperbole on Wednesday to applaud Senator Barack Obama's claim of victory in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, almost as if he had already been elected to the White House.
His triumph in the primaries, many said, signaled the defeat of racism, and if Senator Obama became president, his election would presage a departure from what outsiders have broadly depicted as the go-it-alone belligerence of the Bush era.
That anticipatory exuberance cut across party lines. Just in France, Ségolène Royal, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Socialist rival in last year’s French presidential election, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Obama “embodies the America of today and tomorrow.”
Equally enthusiastically, Patrick Devedjian, the head of President Sarkozy’s center-right political party, called Mr. Obama’s candidacy "a very beautiful image of America, the image of a candidate who transcends race and got to where he is because of merit alone.” And Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, declared: “His candidacy carries an enormous hope for his country and for peace in the world.”
But there were some dissident voices in Europe and the Arab world in this pro-Obama orthodoxy.
As Josef Joffe, the publisher and editor of the prestigious German weekly Die Zeit, wrote in a Web posting: “The spirit of the times is for Obama — even if less so in Asia, Africa and Latin America than in western Europe. But an optical illusion may be influencing our mood — notably the comforting picture that it is not America but George W. Bush that is the problem. Out goes the ‘cowboy,’ in comes Change and Hope, and we can love America again.”
There was some lingering consideration, too, of how Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton would now play her hand.
“What is Hillary up to?” Reymer Kluever wondered in an article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, another German paper. “The question arose even on Tuesday evening, on this truly historic electoral moment.”
“Clinton has no chance of securing the nomination. She knows that herself,” Mr. Kluever wrote. “But the almost 18 million people who she says voted for her provide her with a strong position. They are key groups, which any Democrat presidential candidate needs to move into the White House.”
In general, Mr. Obama’s claim of victory shifted the world’s focus to the looming battle between an untested champion of the Democrats and Senator John McCain, representing a Republican Party whose global image has been scarred by the war in Iraq.
“Obama needs to put McCain on the defensive over his support for the Iraq war and for wanting to keep alive George Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy,” said Michael Tomasky, the American editor of The Guardian newspaper.
A generally favorable impression
Word of Mr. Obama’s claim, following the last two primaries in Montana and South Dakota, came too late for Asian and some European newspaper deadlines, but breakfast radio and television shows, along with many websites, gave his announcement almost the same attention as it drew in the United States.
Some governments were constrained from comment by diplomatic custom and by the fact that Mrs. Clinton had not yet conceded.
China, for instance, made no immediate official comment. But Mr. Obama’s victory was displayed on all the main Chinese news Web sites, and the country’s most popular portal, Sina.com, conducted a poll around the question: Do you think Mr. Obama will win the presidency? By mid-afternoon Wednesday, 20,000 people had responded, with 55 percent predicting he would win, 32 percent that he would lose and 13 percent responding that it was “hard to say.”
That generally favorable impression was echoed in Pakistan, where Mr. Obama’s speech in St. Paul, Minn., was carried on television at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning.
“It should bring a good change in relations with Pakistan” should he win the presidency, said Munaway Akhtar, a prominent lawyer specializing in international arbitration in the capital, Islamabad. “Pakistan has always been friendly to the United States, but the people have never benefited, the rulers have always benefited. Hopefully, that would change with Obama.”
Wamiq Zuberi, the editor of The Business Recorder, the country’s biggest business-oriented newspaper, said he believed Pakistanis were pleased. “Everyone is in fact impressed with the historical moment, that it is the first time an African-American has won the nomination of a party.”
That sense of optimism trickled through to Hong Kong’s financial district. “I feel his image is younger, fresher and more energetic, with no baggage and a shorter history,” said Richard Law, 50, a lawyer.
Across Europe, Mr. Obama’s announcement was seen through the prism and nuances of national interest.
In Kosovo, whose birth as an independent country in February won strong support from the United States, political observers said that both Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain would be embraced by the territory’s ethnic Albanian majority, since both men supported Kosovo’s self-determination.
Shpend Ahmeti, an economist who runs the Institute for Advanced Studies, a Pristina-based research organization, said the government was counting on continuity in American foreign policy, including a commitment to stand up to Russia and Serbia, which oppose Kosovo’s independence.
“Kosovars will love either candidate as long as they continue to love us,” Mr. Ahmeti said.
In Denmark, which supported the invasion of Iraq before withdrawing its troops amid a growing domestic backlash, Matias Seidelin, the political editor of the newspaper Politiken, said Mr. Obama was widely seen as the candidate who could repair America’s damaged reputation.
“Obama is viewed a multilateralist who favors dialogue in his foreign policy,” he said.
Mr. Seidelin said that Mr. Obama’s multiethnic background could foster understanding between cultures in the United States and other countries. But he made the point that, like other western allies of the United States, Denmark would support either candidate because “our foreign policy is so closely linked to that of the United States.”
In Germany, where newspapers and broadcasters have been fascinated by the American election campaign, several politicians and commentators have referred to Mr. Obama as the new John F. Kennedy, expressing fervent hope that he will reach the White House, not only because of his youth and background but also because he promises a radical departure from the Bush administration.
Reinhardt Bütikofer, leader of Germany’s Green Party, said the election was of crucial importance for democracy. “I think this is a major historical moment,” he said. “And it came about against all the odds. What is most exciting is how Obama has been able to mobilize younger voters. This is one of the most important aspects. He can always be proud of that.”
The enthusiasm was also clear among conservative politicians, such as Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the foreign policy spokesman for the Christian Social Union, the sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats.
If Mr. Obama becomes president, “we will reach a new peak of trans-Atlantic romanticism,” he said.
‘Obama just fits much better’
The enthusiasm spread to Brussels, where Jan Marinus Wiersma, vice president of the Socialist Group, which has 216 of the 785 seats in the European Parliament, said: “Mr. Obama represents an agenda for change for which we in Europe are longing. We hope and expect Mr. Obama to win.”
In Switzerland, Miriam Behrens, the spokesperson for Switzerland’s Green Party, said, “Among the general public there is a tendency to support Obama. He’s perceived as a person who’s very charismatic, and he’s more open to a European approach to things. That’s very much appreciated here.” Some Europeans expressed caution about pre-judging Mr. Obama’s prospects of bringing about the change he advocates in America. “It’s clear that to affirm this change, there would have to be a victory in November, which isn’t at all certain,” said Mario Del Pero, who teaches American history at the University of Bologna in Italy.
Nikos Karahalios, a top strategist of the ruling New Democracy Party in Greece, said the government in Athens “isn’t playing the Republican or Democratic card game.” He continued, “Greece, a small country struggling to make its mark in international affairs, has always had a history of siding by the underdog. That’s what Obama is. That’s why he’s appealing to the Greeks.
“How well Mr. Obama rebrands America is crucial for Greece. It will determine how Greeks position themselves vis-à-vis the United States.”
In Madrid, David Bach, associate dean of M.B.A. programs at a leading business school, said: “There was a lot of speculation here in Spain with people wondering out loud whether America would really elect an African American at this point.”
“The debate hasn’t gone a lot beyond that, but in terms of foreign policy there are two things that resonate with people here in Spain,” Mr. Bach said, citing “Obama’s unambiguous opposition to the Iraq war” and his advocacy of diplomatic “dialogue and conversation that can help defuse tensions.”
“Obama just fits much better with the way the current Spanish government and a large part of the Spanish population have been thinking about ways to address relations with Islamic countries,” he said.
The American campaign has been closely followed in Baghdad, where politicians have tended to judge their American counterparts by reference to their stance on and knowledge of the Iraq war.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, Mahmoud Othman, a prominent member of Kurdish alliance in parliament, said: “It is a matter related to the American people. I have preferred Clinton to be the candidate because she is more concerned about the Iraqi issue and the Kurdish issue especially. In general, I think it is good for the Americans because they want a change. They want a new administration since Obama represents the youth and he wants change.”
And Abbas al-Bayati, an influential member of parliament from the main Shiite political alliance, said: “I don’t think that Obama’s candidacy or presidency would change the strategy of the United States in Iraq. He may change the details. I don’t think that all the slogans that were raised during his campaign will be carried out in his presidency. I don’t expect a sudden, rapid and immediate withdrawal for the American forces from Iraq. The U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Defense and the Congress are making the American policy. He will not rule alone.”
On the streets and in the chat-rooms of the Middle East, another skeptical voice emerged among Arabs weary of the long years of what is broadly depicted as Washington’s bias towards Israel in the region’s enduring conflicts.
On one website, www.elaph.com, a contributor identified as Fatma Ali said: “If Obama becomes president of the United States, then he will be one of the most cooperative American leaders with Israel.”
And on www.aljazeera.net, a posting by Tarek Ismail Hashhash said: “I hope that the Arabs will not at least think that there will be change in American foreign policy.”
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