This summer, I saw a friend of mine from back home in Germany wearing a “Barack Obama ’08″ T-shirt. More striking than my friend’s T-shirt, though, was that many of my other friends and even people in the streets asked him where they, too, could get one.
Around 18 months before America’s presidential election, these people not only knew about this junior senator from Illinois running for the presidency, but were also excited about him. In early 2004, very few people outside the US had ever even heard of Howard Dean (maybe that’s why he screamed so loud that fateful night in Iowa).
This fascination with Obama is not entirely about his charismatic persona. It reflects a general sentiment felt in many places throughout the world, which might at first sight seem odd: Both ordinary people and government leaders across the world have a genuine hope that under the next president, the United States will once again take on the leadership role it used to play.
The question, then, is who would be best suited to provide the United States with the kind of leadership it needs. I am convinced that Obama is second to none on this count. Granted, he does not have much foreign policy experience. But foreign policy is not necessarily about experience ““ it is primarily about sound judgment. For evidence of this, consider what great things Washington veterans Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld accomplished for President Bush.
Obama’s record and his statements on international affairs strongly indicate that he would be best placed to repair America’s image in the world.
First, Obama is entirely untainted by the Iraq war. Whether you personally supported or opposed the invasion and whether you approve or disapprove of the way it is conducted now doesn’t really matter here. If you want Iraq to become a success story after all, surely you recognize that a little help from other countries is indispensable. Since Obama, unlike all other leading candidates in both parties, opposed the war from the beginning, negotiations with other countries on Iraq would no longer be overshadowed by disagreements on principle. Instead, they could focus on pragmatic solutions to the more important question: how to turn Iraq into a stable, peaceful and democratic country.
Second, Obama would bring a new tone and style to world affairs. This is evident in his stance on Iran and negotiations with other anti-American regimes.
Rather than ratcheting up the rhetoric by declaring one-third of Tehran’s armed forces a terrorist organization, Obama has pledged that he would be willing to engage in aggressive personal diplomacy to dissuade Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to try to convince it to play a more constructive role in Iraq and the region as a whole .
And even if things with Iran do come to a head, it is beyond doubt that a president who has made a credible diplomatic effort will find it easier to garner the necessary international support for a strike against Iran.
Finally, there is Obama’s background. He is the son of a Kenyan father and an American mother, who spent part of his childhood abroad. Obama truly represents what is best about this country: the diversity of its people.
When people around the world, people like the neighbors of Obama’s grandmother in Kenya, people like the now disenchanted youth in Pakistan, or people like my friend in Germany, hear that somebody with Obama’s personal history can become president, they will once again see in the United States what they wish to see: a country that, like no other, is suited to lead the world.
Muller is the media relations director for Bruins for Obama. She is a third-year political science and history student and a foreign exchange student from Germany.