A pro Obama billboard has been posted in Belgrade, Serbia which says, "Change that we can believe in." The billboard is reported to portray a picture of Obama on one side and President Kennedy on the other. The billboard was posted by a European group which calls themselves "Europe has no alternative."
John McCain has been attempting to prove during each presidential debate that Obama has no experience or skills in foreign policy. John McCain has attempted to portray himself as the best and most qualified candidate to serve the presidency in foreign relations.
A Gallup poll was issued in several foreign countries to determine if Obama or McCain was most popularity. The Gallop poll asked several citizens in 70 different countries all around the world which American presidential candidate they liked best. The poll concluded that citizens all around the world prefer Obama 4 to 1. The only two countries polled which prefer McCain over Obama was the Phillippines and Georgia.
There was no exact conclusion determined on why Obama is preferred over McCain. CNN proceeded to ask readers to post their opinions and interpretations of this data. I thought it would be interesting to see what we all thought was the reason.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
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4 comments:
Do you think this preference for Obama by citizens of other countries might be blind partisanship? Most people around the world have a clear negative view of President Bush--will they be easily convinced that another Republican will be different? Also, to what extent does racial diversity play in their support? Are the Europeans cheering us for having a non-white, youthful candidate?
I tend to agree with Colleen's Bush/Republican point. I think Bush has given republicans a bad name throughout the world. Obama has heavily focused his campaigning on McCain's compatibility with Bush during the debates and certain advertisements (Saying McCain has voted with Bush 90% of the time). I think the world is fearful of the same thing most Americans are: 4 more years of Bush policies which McCain potentially brings to the table.
Both points that Colleen made initially I think could be a major reason for Obama's popularity. It seems as if America has lost a lot of respect from other countries during the 8 years of the Bush administration. These "negative" or lack of feelings toward McCain could be the fact that people see the word Republican by his name and expect more of the same. Another major reason could be that Obama talks up the similarities between McCain and Bush so much. When something is said and heard that much, it is hard not to think about it. The racial diversity and youth of Obama I feel could also be playing a big role. It is historic in the sense that he would be our first African American president, so that mere fact I'm sure interests people. Also to do with the youth portion, a lot of times, I think people just think of big time politicians to be older, and kind of less peppy and motivating. This is not the case, but I think for some reason that stereotype applies when some people think of politicians. The fact that Obama is younger and is such a good speaker, to go along with his ability to not only be a polished professional, but his ability to relate to the younger generation, only adds to his appeal. I’m sure there are many factors that attribute to the large amount of foreign support for Obama; however the couple that we have mentioned here seem to be two very legitimate ideas.
I agree that Obama has amazing public speaking skills. He can be very influential and persuasive when he gives a speech. I think Obama's world wide popularity has more to do with fear than preference. Bush has been an aggressive president, which makes the world fear us. Obama with all his characteristics erases some of that fear, while McCain just reinforces it.
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