With the announcement of Obama as the next president came worldwide talk. Every single country seems to have their own opinion on the subject. Each seems to feel they will be personally affected by the decision. Countries all across the world have come forward speaking of how elated they are with the decision. Surprisingly, almost none have expressed outright disappointment. Worldwide people were watching the election, actively waiting to hear the results. For example, in England their news was said to be completely dominated by our election coverage. All of the headlines , from msnbc, speak to this.
-Germans hail Obama’s ‘historic’ victory
-For Israelis ‘The Winner Takes All’
-Cubans hope Obama’s win means ‘better times ahead’
-For Egyptians ‘It’s a new beginning’
-Japan celebrates Obama victory
-Obama: An ‘opportunity and a test’ for Iran
-Afghans hope ‘Obama will help us’
-Obama gets China’s youth vote
-Vietnamese back ‘friend of Hanoi’
-Iraqis say vote smells of ‘honey promises’
-U.S. election is ‘entertaining’ for Chinese
-For Poles, the election is personal
-In Russia, Obama beats McCain
And the list goes on and on. I know I don’t follow the elections of any other country closely; in fact I don’t know of anyone, who doesn’t have family in foreign countries, who does. So my question is, why should one man make such a difference to all these countries? Even if we may be the current most powerful country, we live in a some-what democracy, with checks and balances and various elected officials. Why does such an election weigh so heavily in the minds of so many independent countries?
