Obama Abroad

There have been a couple of articles lately talking about how Barack Obama is seen abroad, especially now that he is the nominee.

Last week, Thomas Friedman wrote a piece called Obama on the Nile, discussing how Egyptians see Obama. They're stunned that an outsider could "allowed" to win the nomination. In Egypt, a Copt or a Shi'ite could never expect to become president. They're also pleased that someone with familiarity with Islam might be running the US, unlike the present clueless crowd.

Today, an article in the International Herald Tribune describes how blacks and Africans in France are finding hope in Obama's success. France has never thought it had a race problem in the way the US knows that it does - until a few years ago when the black and Arab kids in the suburbs of Paris exploded into riots. If you're of African or Arab descent in France, the glass ceiling is very low and those who can leave for England or elsewhere.

Ultimately, I think it's really interesting that the rest of the world cares about our politics in a way that we don't care, or know about any one else's. I suppose Americans knew when Blair left and Browne came in, and we noticed the election that brought in Sarkozy, but we didn't think about it very deeply. The rest of the world notices and cares about our politics.