World welcomes Obama win (AWESOME!!)

[baghdad_bush]

Obamamania goes global as people around the world hail historic moment in US politics

JILL LAWLESS
AP News

Jun 04, 2008 10:27 EST

Excitement about Barack Obama emerged as a global phenomenon Wednesday as commentators and citizens around the world welcomed the news that he had sealed the Democratic presidential nomination.

The excitement was less about Obama's foreign policies — which remain vague on many fronts — than a sense that the candidacy of a black American with relatives in Africa and childhood friends in Asia marks a historic moment.

Michael Cox, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, said Obama's win "has sent out a lot of positive signals around the world."

"He has a very appealing persona — elegant, fluent, strings lots of sentences together into paragraphs," Cox said. "But in terms of (his) actual policies towards the Middle East, Iraq, Iran, China, Europe — actually, we don't know."

In Kenya, home to Obama's family on his father's side, the Kenya Times newspaper devoted its front page to Obama's victory, under the headline "Obama makes history."

"Obama waits on the threshold of history," the Times of London declared.

"I've just watched him on television, and as a family we are very happy. Really, it is something that is a trendsetter," the politician's uncle, Said Obama, told The Associated Press from the port city of Kisumu in western Kenya.

Indonesians were rooting for the man they consider to be a hometown hero. Obama lived in the predominantly Muslim nation from age 6 to 10 with his mother and Indonesian stepfather and was fondly remembered by former teachers and classmates.

"He was an average student, but very active," said Widianto Hendro Cahyono, 48, who was in the same third-grade class as Obama at SDN Menteng elementary school in Jakarta. "He would play ball during recess until he was dripping with sweat.

"I never imagined he would become a great man."

In Mexico City, hairdresser Susan Mendoza's eyes lit up when she learned Obama had clinched the nomination.

"Bush was for the elite. Obama is of the people," she said.

The German government's coordinator on U.S. relations, Karsten Voigt, said many Germans "find (Obama's) mixture of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy very attractive."

In an editorial, the Times newspaper of London said Obama's campaign "has rekindled America's faith in its prodigious powers of reinvention — and the world's admiration for America."

Obama opposed the invasion of Iraq and has called for an early troop withdrawal. He also has shown willingness to engage in dialogue with Iran, North Korea and Cuba — nations long isolated by the policies of Bush.

"He seems to be a peace lover," said Ngo Van Hung, a Vietnamese real-estate salesman. "He would have a better understanding of how to treat people of different nationalities and different countries."

A Chinese scholar said that while he did not expect major changes in U.S. foreign policy, an Obama White House would have a very different tone to a Bush one.

"He will bring new energy into America's domestic politics and foreign policies," said Zhu Feng, deputy director at the Center of International and Strategic Studies at Peking University in Beijing. "It's a good choice for the Democrats."

Obama, however, has made himself unpopular in Pakistan by saying the United States should act alone on information about terrorist targets within the country's national borders, leading some to believe he will not be any different from Bush.

"Obama has threatened attacks against us even before becoming the president, and he will be more dangerous compared to Bush," said Ibrar Ahmad, 34, a lecturer at the Government College in Multan.

____

Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.

Source: AP News
http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/World_welcomes_Obama_win_06042008.html

[demo dutch]

1. Quote "But in terms of (his) actual policies towards the Middle East, Iraq, Iran, China, Europe —

actually we don't know"

[MrCoffee]

2. "elegant, fluent, strings lots of sentences together into paragraphs"

If this isn't a complete parody, it's one of the funniest news articles I've ever read.

[babylonsister]

4. Self-delete. nt

[MrCoffee]

5. I was quoting the article.

If I was bashing Obama, so was the OP, and the Associated Press.

[babylonsister]

12. OK, my apologies. nt

[roguevalley]

18. it was a jab at bush. doesn't take a ouiji board to see that. that is

how low we have fallen in the past eight years.

[babylonsister]

6. No, they don't, but my guess is he'll be a helluva lot better than

who they have had to deal with the past 7 years. I'm sure that's their guess, too.

[demo dutch]

10. Surely they're figuring that's a no-brainer

[MrCoffee]

11. So would that squirrel that can waterski...

Martin Sheen from The Dead Zone looks good compared to Chimpy.

[babylonsister]

13. There's that snark I've come to expect.

Squirrels remind me of McCain; he'd be on par with the blivet.

[babylonsister]

3. Great news (for the most part, and where is Multan?)-thank you! nt

[TheWraith]

7. It's in central Pakistan.nt

[malaise]

8. three more links

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7435580.stm

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/

Caribbean newspapers
http://www.caribbeannewspapers.com/

[myrna minx]

9. K&R n/t

[chill_wind]

14. K & R I love this! And compare and contrast this with 4 years ago

when we reinstated the BushReich.

Just posted this a few days ago, but the comparions of world reaction are going to be so stark come November:

"We're so sorry, eveybody!" (U.S.) and "Apologies Accepted" (International) (lots of pics)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3370307

[glitch]

15. K & R nt

[Release The Hounds]

16. "Bush was for the elite. Obama is of the people," she said.

Not according to the MSM.

[Peace Patriot]

17. America's "prodigious powers of reinvention"! Much as I hate to give them credit,

the Time's of London nailed it. That is our history. That is WHY pre-Reagan America was a "beacon light" to the world despite even our gravest mistakes and crimes--for instance, Vietnam. The world paid attention to the PEOPLE here, in our massive protests against unjust war, and in our massive efforts to achieve justice (for instance, the civil rights movement), and trusted who WE are--the potentially most progressive force on earth--not what our corrupt leaders were doing AGAINST OUR WILL. Democracy is still strong enough in our hearts to overcome even the Reagan-Bush era, and restore government of, by and for the people. The London Times no doubt disapproves of that--and counts Reaganism as a "reinvention" (and Clinton globalization)--but they nevertheless found the right phrase to describe what the PEOPLE OF THE U.S. are capable of, in our amazingly diverse and creative society rooted in the principles of the first American Revolution, and evident throughout our history: reinvention by freeing the slaves, reinvention by establishing labor rights, reinvention by toppling a series of "robber barons," reinvention by "one person/one vote," reinvention by the "New Deal," reinvention by the anti-war, anti-Draft, black civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, and environmental movements of the 1960s, and all of our many, many reinventions of democracy.

Such a fine word: reinvention.

But I do agree with those above who think that this Associated Pukes article is a mockery. They went looking for and found the most lukewarm quotes they could find--rooting around in many obscure places--and strung them together as a DRAG on the change that Obama supporters are insisting on. While there is truth, for instance, in the point that Obama's stated foreign policy is vague (and, my opinion, heavily laden with U.S. "Manifest Destiny"--read his speech to the Miami mafia!), that is NOT the most important aspect his nomination. The most important aspect of his nomination is his supporters' adamant commitment to change, and adamant opposition to the Iraq War, representative of the vast American majority of SEVENTY PERCENT who now oppose that war (up from 55-60% just before the invasion--a FACT reflected in all polls, but that few people know)--so adamant that they defeated the frontrunner, pro-war candidate Clinton, who had the nomination "sewed up" six months ago. The thousands of citizen activists and the million-plus small donors ARE the story of this nomination, and will be the story of evolving Obama policy, foreign and domestic. The American people are BACK. Our powers of "reinvention" have been REINVENTED. WE reinvented them--making Obama's successful campaign possible. WE made it possible. And we can make other things possible--including the reinvention of U.S. foreign policy to reflect OUR views of decency, peacefulness and social justice. Whatever ways Obama may be hemmed in, WE can free him. We, the People. And this reinvention of democracy is the most important thing that has happened in our country in more than two hundred years.

I'm not saying it's going to be easy. I'm just saying that, by this nomination, we have taken the first, hardest and most important step toward reinventing America. And one of our chief enemies--AP--is already trying to kill that spirit--with its dull, twisted psyops 'journalism.' Beware of those bastards. And know that the world knows, and the world today is celebrating, us/i]. The return of the American people.