“Elected by a landslide and carrying the hopes of America, Barack Obama will soon begin to reveal his priorities on international relations for the United States. What place will Latin America have in these priorities? One shouldn’t expect our region to be on the list of his immediate priorities, but for a number of reasons, I think there’ll be significant progress in comparison to the lamentable legacy of George W. Bush, who frustrated the great expectations that he had created in our region at the beginning of his mandate.”
One of the more rewarding things about showing Americans what the rest of the world thinks about our nation, is to introduce people to newspapers that they would never ordinarily be able to read. For example, how many Americans have ever read a newspaper from the civil-war stricken Portuguese-speaking country of Angola?
This article by Altino Matos of the Jornal de Angola has an interesting take on the election of Barack Obama. While it suggests that the ‘American Media Machine’ chose Obama to alter our global image - it doesn’t seem to think there’s anything wrong with that.
“The American communication system, one of the largest in existence, was quick to realize that it had to do something substantial and consistent to save the United States, considering the erosion of its image, which began primarily with wars in Afghanistan Iraq and the Middle East.
“The strategy for recovery had to come from the Democrats, but it couldn’t be based solely on words. It was essential to find a face that could incorporate these words and breathe life into a comprehensive program. In this way, the technocrats found in Barack Obama a man of the multitudes.”
Here’s a new take on Obama’s election as president from none other than China’s state-controlled media. According to this op-ed from China’s strictly-controlled Global Geographic Weekly, Obama’s victory is a ‘color revolution’ - similar to those promoted by the Bush Administration in Ukraine and Georgia.
“The U.S. presidential election, watched so closely by the entire world, has finally given us its result. In the past, [the U.S. election] rules and guidelines haven’t always reached a positive outcome - but the fact that the American people previously elected “the decider,” no doubt helped these same people elect Obama, a Black man, the new U.S. president.
“After over 200 years of White rule, Obama, a Black man, in one fell swoop successfully launched a “color revolution” and seized power. In recent years, the leadership of Bush’s Republican Party has stirred up trouble all over the world, playing up the “Rose Revolution [Georgia ],” the “Orange Revolution [Ukraine ],” the “Tulip Revolution [Kyrgyzstan ],” and other “color revolutions.” Well, this time a “Black Revolution” has played out in America’s own land, and it was this color revolution that forced them from the stage.”
As promised earlier, presented below is the ‘Manifesto for True Equality’ which is now making the rounds in France and was triggered by the election of President-elect Obama. The Manifesto has the active backing of French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who penned this article, ‘We Must Help Our Elites Embrace Change’, which WORLDMEETS.US posted earlier in the day.
“The election of Barack Obama exposes, through cruel contrast, the shortcomings of the French Republic and the gap that separates us from a country whose citizens were able to overcome the race issue and elect as president a man who happens to be Black. America has confirmed the validity of a democratic model based on equality and diversity.”
The word progressive has an interesting and storied history, and according to this article, in Obama’s victory, the word and its meaning have been snatched back by the left, from the right - who had “stolen” it from them.
“The election of Barack Obama has another meaning just as decisive to our fate. Since the 1980s, the progressives of the planet have been on the defensive. The forces of individualism and money confiscated the very idea of progress. Business and finance, combined with technology and free trade, were the engines of a revolution that shook the planet, changed work habits and transformed the relationships between people. The exuberance of the markets and the energy of individual selfishness have pushed humanity forward without it knowing where it was going. Capitalism, according to Marx’ theory, revolutionized life. Suddenly, the words changed and reform, innovation, audacity and creativity moved to the right. Although the term doesn’t have the same meaning in the United States, and even if Barack Obama, somewhat like the Kennedys, is also a proven politician, centrist in many ways, a tough competitor and able to maneuver, these words have now come back to the left. By a huge margin, without question, Americans wanted to say that this society is too hard on people, that inequality is not the ideal for citizens of globalization, that the Earth is not infinite and indestructible, and that the rich must lose at least some of their arrogance. Progressives had the idea of progress stolen from them. Now they have taken it back.”
Is there anyone left out there wondering of the the rest of this planet sees America in a new light after President-elect Obama’s victory?
This article by the great Christian Merville of Lebanon’s L’Orient Le Jouris particularly eloquent - and ends much more cold-eyed than this paragraph in the beginning might lead one to believe. And demonstrating the incredible change in perceptions, it has the same refrain as the famed Le Monde front page of September 12, 2001:
“A leader was born, an unknown even four years ago, who through the magic of his word has enabled all of us, beyond the borders of his country, to imagine that we are all Americans, in solidarity at last after having been divided for so long … But the words, as exhilarating as they may be, will not suffice. Nor will promises of a better tomorrow if they take too long to come. The disappointment could be as cruel as the great hopes that were raised when everything seemed possible.”
