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| Yes | 63% | 35 votes | Total: 56 votes | |
| No | 37% | 21 votes |
Yes
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Speaking as a Canadian I can say that many other countries cheered when Obama was elected, Canada being just one of them. I was driving home from Alberta's capital city, Edmonton, when we heard the news. My husband, being an American who sent his vote in by mail, openly cheered. As did I, although I am not American.
Later we heard that the Hockey Game being held in Vancouver, British Columbia, was interrupted briefly for the election results, and the crowed cheered. They do not interrupt hockey games for just any news. Similar responses were reported in other countries around the world.
Sadly it can be said that most Americans really do not know why their country is disliked by people in so many other nations. They often think, and are told, it is because people are jealous of Americas freedoms, but countries like Canada, and England have just as many freedoms, if not more. So clearly the problem is something more than that, and to be fair it is a problem that has escalated since the Reagan years, and may not have even occurred had Kennedy not been shot so many years ago.
Being a man of color was only part of the reason the world cheered, his democratic stance also had a lot to do with it.
People outside of the United States were simply tired of Bush, many being shocked that he had been given a second term. People outside of the United States often saw Bush as a war monger, and he and his government were suspected of wrong doings, even war crimes. Many people saw the war on terror as being a war for oil.
People outside the USA did not want more of the same, and at least in my area, were surprised at how close the polls and final votes were.
After the election many waited, not to see how the new president would improve the economy, but to see what kind of dog he would get. We just knew he would fix the economy in time, and wanted to see him rescue a dog. Although that did not happen exactly as planned, people were still thrilled when he accepted Bo.
World wide people knew Obama could not fix the economy over night, he could not end the war, or put a stop to racial tensions in the United States, but it was like a burden was lifted when he was elected.
Other nations see President Obama as an intelligent man who will listen and not jump in feet first without testing the waters. They see him as a man who has strong family values and who really wants things to improve for the younger generation. They see him as less of a threat than the Bush family.
Whether Obama is able to make real changes in the United States has yet to be seen, he certainly took over at a difficult time, however he has changed the way the world sees the United States, if even so slightly, and that is a change for the better.
Learn more about this author, Brenda Nelson.
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No
Has President Obama changed the world views about the US? No, not really. I don't think anything that positive has come out of the President's reign. It's just a political jungle in which a person is taking part of the role of caretaker of a country. There is nothing spectacular that he has really brought forth: one just looks at him while he is orating his latest speech and sees that his mouth is moving more then his patriotic spirit. There is no real passion bubbling inside his blood in order to make a big difference future for the American culture and its peoples. The modern-day person just looks at this guy doing his little act, and sees it as a celebrity show rather then a performance.
He is a little bit like Barbie doll (the first African American Barbie doll to take on the stand of president, to be exact!). His racial value has made him an instant collectors item in the eye of the public. It has won him an instant credit, that will no doubt be one to keep in store in the history books. That has been his instant celebrity sale, that he is doing something that is of cultural value. The following generations will be able to remember this African American president and become inspired as they realize that it is possible for a person of such a decent to climb those steps and sit on the top ladder, despite being of a race that has had to crawl their way from slavery.
However, despite that fact, he has also had to learn about the subjects he is bound to face at every turn, and to fight it verbally first and by decision later. This has involved intense education in order to make him and overall knowledgeable person, this has taken community association in order for him to be able to identify on a base level with the community around him. This has made him progress public speaking skills, until he has been able to entertain, persuade, and to push during verbal war. This has made him instinctive about modern issues, and ready for decisive planning.
So yes, he may be a bit more educated then a barbie doll - but he is still rather stiff on the political plate. If he were a cheese he would be one which has aged so much as to become a cultivated cheese that is sold as specialty item. He kind of just sits on the ladder, and takes things on at face value, but does not seem to really take a public effect. You can see the difference in presidential style, you can smell it when he is near sight and upwind, but there is something that lacks, and this causes a type of mistrust to build about his style. He is the thinker who may or may not make a difference to the world around him.
Learn more about this author, M Pereira.
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