Bozur
Amicus
Posts: 5,515
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Post by Bozur on Nov 6, 2008 12:11:42 GMT -5
Suddenly, it may be cool to be an American again
news.yahoo.com — She was a stranger, and she kissed me. Just for being an American. It happened on the bus on my way to work Wednesday morning, a few hours after compatriots clamoring for change swept Barack Obama to his historic victory. I was on the phone, and the 20-something Austrian woman seated in front of me overheard me speaking English.More… (Political Opinion)
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Suddenly, it may be cool to be an American again
By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer William J. Kole, Associated Press Writer – Wed Nov 5, 2:58 pm ET
VIENNA, Austria – She was a stranger, and she kissed me. Just for being an American.
It happened on the bus on my way to work Wednesday morning, a few hours after compatriots clamoring for change swept Barack Obama to his historic victory. I was on the phone, and the 20-something Austrian woman seated in front of me overheard me speaking English.
Without a word, she turned, pecked me on the cheek and stepped off at the next stop.
Nothing was said, but the message was clear: Today, we are all Americans.
For longtime U.S. expatriates like me — someone far more accustomed to being targeted over unpopular policies, for having my very Americanness publicly assailed — it feels like an extraordinary turnabout.
Like a long journey over a very bumpy road has abruptly come to an end.
And it's not just me.
An American colleague in Egypt says several people came up to her on the streets of Cairo and said: "America, hooray!" Others, including strangers, expressed congratulations with a smile and a hand over their hearts.
Another colleague, in Amman, says Jordanians stopped her on the street and that several women described how they wept with joy.
When you're an American abroad, you can quickly become a whipping post. Regardless of your political affiliation, if you happen to be living and working overseas at a time when the United States has antagonized much of the world, you get a lot of grief.
You can find yourself pressed to be some kind of apologist for Washington. And you can wind up feeling ashamed and alone.
I'll never forget a ride in a taxi in Vienna when the world was waking up to the abuses wrought by U.S. troops at the detention center for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
My driver, a Muslim, was indignant. "You are American, yes?" he asked in that accusatory tone so familiar to many expats.
"Uh, no, Canadian," I said.
And it wasn't the first time I fudged where I was from. I speak three foreign languages, so I have a bit of flexibility when it comes to faking. At various times, I've been a German in Serbia, a Frenchman in Turkey, a Dutchman in Austria.
I'm not proud of it. But when you're far from home, and you're feeling cornered, you develop what you come to believe are survival skills.
Last spring, after the Bush administration recognized Kosovo's independence, a Serb who overheard my American-accented English lobbed a beer can at me in central Vienna. He missed, but spat out an unflattering "Amerikanac" and told me where to go.
On another occasion, an Austrian who heard my teenage daughter chatting with a friend pursued her, screaming, "Go Home!"
Physical attacks on Americans overseas are rare. Yet some of us felt vaguely at risk.
Maybe it was just the hostility we'd encounter even in friendly venues such as cocktail parties, when our foreign hosts would surround us and demand to know why U.S. troops were roughing up inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. Or refusing to sign the U.N. Convention Against Torture. Or rejecting the Kyoto accord on climate change.
Maybe it was the State Department, which issues regular travel advisories urging Americans to keep a low profile even in tranquil Austria.
Often, of course, I've pushed back — reminding critics that most Americans are decent and generous souls, quick to respond with money and manpower whenever and wherever in the world catastrophe may strike.
My children came of age in Europe, and in a hostile post-9/11 world we had to teach them to avoid being too conspicuously American. Don't speak English loudly on the subway. Don't wear baseball caps and tennis shoes. Don't single yourselves out, guys, and even worldly wise Americans can unwittingly become targets.
We didn't overdo it, but there's always been that tension. That difficult-to-describe sense of vulnerability. That nagging instinct that maybe we'd better watch it, because our government is intensely unpopular and we're not entirely welcome.
I know Americans who at times have felt that way even in laid-back Vienna, where the greatest danger is probably eating a bad pastry.
That's what made Wednesday's unsolicited kiss so remarkable.
I don't want to read too much into an innocent smooch, but it didn't feel particularly pro-Obama, even though the new U.S. president-elect enjoys broad support here. No, it seemed to impart two sentiments I haven't felt for a long time: friendship and admiration.
Obama captured it in his acceptance speech — this sense that despite holding America's feet to the fire, the rest of the world is rooting for it and wants it to lead and succeed.
"Our destiny is shared," he said, "and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand."
Overnight, Americans did something their harshest critics in Europe have yet to do: elect a person of color as head of state and commander in chief. That gives U.S. citizens some bragging rights, even if a lot of us would just as soon eschew hubris and embrace humility.
I'm a marathon runner, and I have a red, white and blue singlet that I've seldom dared to wear on the Continent. Marathons are difficult enough without enduring catcalls and jeers from spectators.
But my best friend and training partner — who is French — just gave me his stamp of approval.
"Will you wear your Stars and Stripes shirt now? You're allowed!" he told me.
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EDITOR'S NOTE — William J. Kole, AP's Vienna bureau chief, has covered European affairs since 1995. news.yahoo.com/
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Bozur
Amicus
Posts: 5,515
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Post by Bozur on Nov 6, 2008 12:28:39 GMT -5
President Obama:The Reactions From Around The World.
iht.com — The International Herald Tribune presents various reactions from across the world following Obama's historic election as the 44th US President. The World, just like the US, is ready and anxiously waiting for a change.More… (World News)
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Election unleashes a flood of hope worldwide By Alan Cowell Published: November 5, 2008
PARIS: From the front lines of Iraq to more genteel spots like Harry's Bar in Paris, the election of Barack Obama opened a floodgate for the world's hope that a new U.S. leader would redeem promises of change, rewrite the political script and provide a kind of leadership that would erase the bitterness of the Bush years.
Whether it was because of Obama's youth, race, message or manner, some European leaders abandoned diplomatic niceties to compete for extravagance in their praise, while others outside the United States - fascinated by an election that had been scrutinized around the globe - reached for their most telling comparisons.
"There is the feeling that for the first time since Kennedy, America has a different kind of leader," said Alejandro Saks, an Argentine script writer in Buenos Aires. Or, as Ersin Kalaycioglu, a professor of political science in Istanbul, put it, "The U.S. needs a facelift and he's the one who can give it."
There were some glaring departures from the feel-good mood. One in particular illustrated the challenges that will test the president-elect: President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia chose the day to lambast the United States and threaten new missile deployments.
The final moments of the election were covered in obsessive detail far from the United States. In Australia, radio stations interrupted their shows to broadcast the Obama acceptance speech. In Berlin, newspapers printed special editions.
Perhaps one of the most poignant accolades came from Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, who said in a letter to Obama: "Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place."
Significantly, though, among U.S. troops in Iraq, the hope seemed tinged with skepticism that change in the White House would not automatically mean change in American doctrines that have meant deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It's not like even if Obama is elected we'll up and leave," said Specialist James Real, 31, of Butte, Montana, as soldiers watched the returns on television at Forward Operating Base Falcon in Iraq.
Indeed, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Iraq itself did not "expect that much change in the American policies toward Iraq. Any changes won't be made in one night."
In Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are also deployed in an increasingly bitter war, the election brought a rebuke .
"Our demand is to have no civilian casualties in Afghanistan. The fight against terrorism cannot be won by the bombardment of our villages," said President Hamid Karzai, referring to a string of coalition airstrikes that have caused civilian casualties.
For many outsiders, Obama's victory raised expectations that a new administration would seek new relationships across the globe.
"I think he can restore the image of America around the world, especially after Bush got us into two wars," said David Charlot, 28, a lawyer with French and American citizenship who was among a throng of expatriate revelers outside Harry's Bar in Paris.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said something along similar lines. "Your election raises in France, in Europe, and elsewhere in the world, an immense hope," he said in a message that called Obama's victory "brilliant" and his campaign "exceptional." Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany called his victory "historic" and invited Obama to return to Berlin, where he addressed a huge rally during his campaign.
Even in lands whose leaders are no friends of Washington, the election outcome cut through official propaganda to touch some people.
"It's kind of nice to feel good about the United States again," said Armando Díaz, 24, a bookkeeper in Caracas, Venezuela, where Enrique Cisneros, a storekeeper summed it up like this: "A few hours ago, the world felt like a different place."
Indeed, for many who had watched this campaign from afar, there was a sense that the election was not just an American affair but something that touched people around the world, whatever their origin. "I want Obama to win with 99 percent, like Saddam Hussein," said Hanin Abu Ayash, who works at a television station in Dubai and monitored early returns on his computer. "I swear if he doesn't win, I'm going to take it personally."
There was little doubt that for some, Obama's skin color made his victory all the more exhilarating.
"The United States is choosing a black man as its president. Maybe we can share a bit in this happiness," Cisneros said in Caracas.
The Afghan president, Karzai, said the election had shown the U.S. people overcoming distinctions "of race and color while electing their president" and thereby helping to bring "the same values to the rest of the world sooner or later."
For many in Africa - and in Kenya especially - his election evoked a deepening of pride. As President Mwai Kibaki said in a message to Obama, "your victory is not only an inspiration to millions of people all over the world, but it has special resonance with us here in Kenya" - the birthplace of Obama's father and paternal grandparents.
That sense of association may also encourage some to believe that Obama will give Africa special attention. "We express the hope that poverty and underdevelopment in Africa, which remains a challenge for humanity, will indeed continue to receive a greater attention of the focus of the new administration," said Kgalema Motlanthe, the South African president.
Many outside Africa competed for his attention, too.
In a statement, the 27-nation European Union said it saw "the promise of a reinforced trans-Atlantic relationship" in Obama's election. Even big business joined in.
"From a business perspective, I'm very happy that the economic issue was at the top of the agenda in the campaign," said Lakshmi Mittal, the head of the world's biggest steel-maker, "and we're very positive that we'll see more measures to address the economic crisis with his election."
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner of France said that "American democracy has just lived through a marvelous moment, one of those major turning points that periodically demonstrates its vitality, its belief in the future and its trust in the values on which it was founded over two centuries."
Members of the three major British political parties lavished praise on Obama. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Obama had run "an inspirational campaign, energizing politics with progressive values and his vision for the future."
He mentioned several times that he planned to work closely with the new administration, said he had spoken to Obama "on many occasions," called him a "true friend of Britain" and said: "I know Barack Obama and we share many values."
But politicians also peer through the prism of self-interest.
In South Korea, some pondered the destiny of a free-trade agreement negotiated by the Bush administration and criticized by Obama. Lee Hae-min, South Korea's top trade negotiator, warned that any change in the deal could undermine South Korea's support for the deal and "open a Pandora's box".
In the Middle East, the focus of much tension that has drawn in successive American administrations, Saeb Erakat, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, urged Obama to transform the proposal for a two-state solution in the Palestine-Israel conflict "to a realistic track immediately."
At the Vatican, a statement urged Obama to show "respect of human life" and expressed the hope that "God should illuminate the way" for him in his "great responsibility."
Some saw a chance to patch up old feuds.
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who displeased Washington when he withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq in 2004, said Obama's victory "demonstrated the vitality of this great country, and of democracy and the unstoppable force of the ballot to bring about change." "I am confident this opens a horizon of promise for relations between the United States and Spain," he said in Madrid.
But even in the moment of triumph, some in Europe questioned whether Obama would really make a break with his predecessor, President George W. Bush, the least popular U.S. leader among Europeans in recent history.
"When Obama takes office on January 20," the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said in an editorial, "we will see whether the Europeans - and especially the Germans - really just had a problem with Bush's presidency or with America itself."
Others were less cynical. "The margin of victory was emphatic and, whatever else follows, today the world changed," said an editorial in The Times of London, and The Guardian newspaper proclaimed: "They did it. They really did it. So often crudely caricatured by others, the American people yesterday stood in they eye of history and made an emphatic choice for change for themselves and the world."
That was not a universal view in Moscow where one analyst, Mikhail Delyagin, compared Obama to Mikhail Gorbachev, who is often blamed in Russia for destroying the Soviet Union.
"Not having large-scale management experience, he has greater chances to disorganize America, to destabilize America, out of the very best intentions, as Gorbachev once did."
But the supporters generally outnumbered the skeptics.. "We were all hoping that he would win," said Carla Saggioro, a retired architect in Rome. "And the fact that he did with such a large margin is a sign of real change - at least let's hope so."
The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, called Obama's election a "historic opportunity" for a stronger working relationship with the United States.
"He values highly the resolution of all the conflict issues through dialogue," Ban said. "He has expressed publicly that he is willing to meet anybody, any country, so that will provide good opportunity not only for the United States, but also the United Nations as a whole to resolve all issues through dialogue."
Ban said he had met MObama by chance last year on a plane flight. "He was very engaging and he knew a lot about the United Nations," Ban said, "and I was very much encouraged.
Alexei Barrionuevo contributed reporting from Buenos Aires; Basil Katz, Susanne Fowler, David Jolly and Katrin Bennhold from Paris; Alissa Rubin from Forward Operating Base Falcon in Iraq; Michael Slackman from Dubai; Choe Sang-Hun from Seoul; Simon Romero from Caracas; Norimitsu Onishi from Tokyo; Seth Mydans and Thomas Fuller from Bangkok; Sam Dagher and The New York Times bureau from Baghdad; Rachel Donadio and Elisabetta Povoledo from Rome; Sarah Lyall from London; Barry Bearak and Celia W. Dugger from Johannesburg; Somini Sengupta from New Delhi; Peter Gelling from Jakarta; Sabrina Tavernise from Istanbul; Sophia Kishkovsky from Moscow; Carlos H. Conde from Manila; Abdul Waheed Wafa from Kabul; Meraiah Foley from Sydney; and Nicholas Kulish from Berlin. www.iht.com/
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