An undercurrent of many foreign press articles about the U.S. election is the unfairness of the fact that while American policies dramatically affect people outside of the United States, those very people are unable to directly influence those we elect.
This op-ed from Protugal’s Expresso newspaper is a perfect example – and addresses this frustration quite directly.
With obvious mixed emotions, Jose Cutiliero writes of Obama and McCain:
“For ill – or for good – it’s out of our hands: both are Americans and nothing can be done about it. We start from the fact that if you’re not American, you don’t have the right to vote and to choose between the two in November. This is a great injustice because the 44th president of the United States will decide things that could affect foreigners more than his own compatriots. You could have asked the Serbs at the time of Bill Clinton or the Iraqis in regard to George Bush – and it’s a responsibility that will fall to his successor in January.”
But in regard to much of the world’s preference, Cutiliero writes:
“As far as the preference abroad, this time there can be no doubt. Opinion polls in a dozen European Union countries are similar and unambiguous: from the English to the Greeks, if Europeans voted, Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States. The same from the Pakistanis. A few weeks ago Fidel Castro wrote in the Communist Party newspaper [Granma] that although far from the ideal, Obama would be preferable to any of the others. We haven’t yet heard from Ahmadinejad, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he praised him, too.”
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the U.S. election.
Translated By Brandi Miller
June 9, 2008
Portugal – Expresso – Original Article (Portuguese)
For ill – or for good – it’s out of our hands: both are Americans and nothing can be done about it. We start from the fact that if you’re not American, you don’t have the right to vote and to choose between the two in November. This is a great injustice because the 44th president of the United States will decide things that could affect foreigners more than his own compatriots. You could have asked the Serbs at the time of Bill Clinton or the Iraqis in regard to George Bush – and it’s a responsibility that will fall to his successor in January. Or ask the French, Italian, Belgians, Dutch, English, etc., even the Germans, who were freed from oppression and the threat of Hitler in 1945. And let us not forget that between World War II and the New International Order, the Cold War that the Americans won led Europeans to a resurgence.
The world may be changing very quickly, but I dare say that for at least the next twenty years, those outside the United States will continue to lament not having a voice in choosing the tenant of the White House, who will remain the most powerful person in the world.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the U.S. election.
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