Obama and Foreign Affairs

From Thomas Friedman:
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Democrats’ nomination of Obama as their candidate for president has done more to improve America’s image abroad — an image dented by the Iraq war, President Bush’s invocation of a post-9/11 “crusade,” Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay and the xenophobic opposition to Dubai Ports World managing U.S. harbors — than the entire Bush public diplomacy effort for seven years.

I realize that that is just his opinion, but I tend to think it is accurate. I would modify it by adding that I think that Hillary Clinton's campaign has also helped generate tons of interest too, and to have Hillary and Obama going punch-for-punch for the nomination has just been a perfect storm. I have spent time in Latin America and Asia during this election cycle, and I could not have possibly foreseen the incredible foreign interest in the American primaries. Usually Americans don't even pay attention to their own primaries, and only half of them even bother to vote in their own elections. But this year, not only do Americans care, people all over the world care. Doctors in Nicaragua were telling me about how they just had to check the television to see who won Texas and Ohio before they went to bed. When Obama won the North Carolina primary, that was front-page news in Japan's leading national newspapers, like the Yomiuri Shimbun. Even middle-school kids at my girlfriend's school follow the campaign, though many seem to think that the election is between Clinton and Obama and may not even realize that McCain is also running. The basic point is that this election, particularly the Democratic primaries, has generated astounding interest in US politics, and based on my conversations with folks abroad, I think it has greatly helped the image of the US.

And from Friedman once more:
Yes, all of this Obama-mania is excessive and will inevitably be punctured should he win the presidency and start making tough calls or big mistakes. For now, though, what it reveals is how much many foreigners, after all the acrimony of the Bush years, still hunger for the “idea of America” — this open, optimistic, and, indeed, revolutionary, place so radically different from their own societies.
...
I have no idea whether Obama will win in November. Whether he does or doesn’t, though, the mere fact of his nomination has done something very important. We’ve surprised ourselves and surprised the world and, in so doing, reminded everyone that we are still a country of new beginnings.