Tell me about it. Joelle and I are asked about the election just about everywhere, every day. Last night here in Barcelona, we chatted with an older Dutch couple about the election while tipping a glass and eating tapas. Spanish TV (tve) just had a discussion with political commentators, asking if an Obama-like person could emerge in Spain. The general consensus is that here in Europe, people want the America that they used to know and love, back. Yes, there's always a certain level of conflict but without a doubt it's so much easier to coordinate real global efforts when you have the support of traditional friends and allies.
We don't have to agree on everything but clearly having the ear and the respect of the world makes working through crisis periods - as we have today thanks to Wall Street - much easier. Here in Europe many still view McCain as much too much like Bush and too little change from the low point in American history. More from Newsweek:
Europe is thrilled by the prospect that whatever happens this week it will mean the end of George W. Bush, and enraptured by the sheer spectacle of it all. James Dickmeyer, the director of the Foreign Press Centers, which helps international press cover U.S. political campaigns, says foreign journalists swarmed not only the Iowa caucuses but even the Iowa State Fair's Straw Poll, which they had never covered before. Bob Worcester, the American-born founder of the London-based polling and research firm Mori, has worked in more than 40 countries, and says he has "never ever seen any election in which so many people in so many places have been so interested."
