"Obama's vistory sparks cheers around the world"

[okirun]

PARIS – Barack Obama's election as America's first black president unleashed a renewed love for the United States after years of dwindling goodwill, and many said Wednesday that U.S. voters had blazed a trail that minorities elsewhere could follow.
People across Africa stayed up all night or woke before dawn to watch U.S. history being made, while the president of Kenya — where Obama's father was born — declared a public holiday.
In Indonesia, where Obama lived as child, hundreds of students at his former elementary school erupted in cheers when he was declared winner and poured into the courtyard where they hugged each other, danced in the rain and chanted "Obama! Obama!"
"Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place," South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela, said in a letter of congratulations to Obama.
Many expressed amazement and satisfaction that the United States could overcome centuries of racial strife and elect an African-American as president.
"This is the fall of the Berlin Wall times ten," Rama Yade, France's black junior minister for human rights, told French radio. "America is rebecoming a New World.
"On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes," she said.
In Britain, The Sun newspaper borrowed from Neil Armstrong's 1969 moon landing in describing Obama's election as "one giant leap for mankind."
Yet celebrations were often tempered by sobering concerns that Obama faces global challenges as momentous as the hopes his campaign inspired — wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the elusive hunt for peace in the Middle East and a global economy in turmoil.
The huge weight of responsibilities on Obama's shoulders was also a concern for some. French former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said Obama's biggest challenge would be managing a punishing agenda of various crises in the United States and the world. "He will need to fight on every front," he said.
Europe, where Obama is overwhelmingly popular, is one region that looked eagerly to an Obama administration for a revival in warm relations after the Bush government's chilly rift with the continent over the Iraq war.
"At a time when we have to confront immense challenges together, your election raises great hopes in France, in Europe and in the rest of the world," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a congratulations letter to Obama.
Poland's Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski spoke of "a new America with a new credit of trust in the world."
Skepticism, however, was high in the Muslim world. The Bush administration alienated those in the Middle East by mistreating prisoners at its detention center for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison — human rights violations also condemned worldwide.
Some Iraqis, who have suffered through five years of a war ignited by the United States and its allies, said they would believe positive change when they saw it.
"Obama's victory will do nothing for the Iraqi issue nor for the Palestinian issue," said Muneer Jamal, a Baghdad resident. "I think all the promises Obama made during the campaign will remain mere promises."
In Pakistan, a country vital to the U.S.-led war on the al-Qaida terrorist network and neighbor to Afghanistan, many hoped Obama would bring some respite from rising militant violence that many blame on Bush.
Still, Mohammed Arshad, a 28-year-old schoolteacher in the capital, Islamabad, doubted Obama's ability to change U.S. foreign policy dramatically.
"It is true that Bush gave America a very bad name. He has become a symbol of hate. But I don't think the change of face will suddenly make any big difference," he said.
But many around the world found Obama's international roots — his father was Kenyan, and he lived four years in Indonesia as a child — compelling and attractive.
"What an inspiration. He is the first truly global U.S. president the world has ever had," said Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old Thai sitting at a Starbuck's in Bangkok. "He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president."
By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer

What are your thoughts or feelings about Obama being the next US president? Did it really spark "cheers around the world"?

[kidflash2008]

The roar from Chicago's Grant Park was incredible as soon as the race was called for President-elect Obama. Many tears were seen coming from the older African Americans, including Jesse Jackson. I don't think most whites realize the significance of this outcome (myself included).

[Mingus]

I'm actually quite astonished with the worldwide reaction to his presidency. There are a lot of relieved people it seems, and that will make it easier for him to work with them. He has some knowledge of Middle Eastern, African, and even a bit of the Asian cultures. I'll be shocked and appalled if the man ends up being different than what he has shown us.

[kidflash2008]

President elect Obama went to elementary school in Indonesia, is the son of a Kenyan and was raised in Hawaii. He has a much different perspective on life and the world. He made a comment about being tough to those who attack us, but also signaled a new approach to the world political scene. Only Russia was indifferent, probably because former President Putin is a friend of George Bush.

Mingus, after eight years of terrible foreign policy, I think the new administration will be a breath of fresh air. The world's reactions show they know that to be true also. Remember the crowds he drew in his European trip? (The McCain campaign criticized the trip and the European reaction, stating he would work for them and not the USA.)

[Mingus]

I know he had some enthusiastic crowds, but the reaction shows that the people across the world are genuinely mindful of other places, and (apparently) America in particular; as opposed to the average American who not only has no clue where the Congo is, but doesn't even care. I'm not going to assume that American favoritism is the case though.

Putin is interesting to me because he doesn't trust anybody. George was not his friend whatsoever, I'm pretty sure he hates him actually. What I see with Russia is a constant defensive posture because of the 20 year old stigma of the Cold War. It was as much of a PR war as it was of ideas. Yes, I'm a Putin supporter, at least a fairweather one. His best friends are the Germans and radical Islamics, so if that isn't a reason to be defensive on his part, I don't know what is.

In fact, the US would be wise to learn how Putin deals with the Islamic nations; although, I am quite confident Obama's background knowledge of the culture will be a good starting point.

[Truthed]

Alex Jones interviewed Ron Paul, and they were discussing to be CAUTIOUS! Obama is being called THE ONE, the WORLD president ect... He may just be another puppet selected to now grab the lefties and pull them towards the new world order.

[kidflash2008]

I do hope Barack Obama does get the world's nations together and help solve some of the global problems facing us in the 21st Century. It does not work to go it alone as we have done in the past eight years. This does not mean One World Government or Order, but it does have us as citizens of Earth, and then our state/nations.
If the aliens out there see us working together instead of killing each other, then they will consider the First Contact with us.