Europe's love affair with Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with a British police officer outside 10 Downing Street in London, April 1, 2009. (Toby Melville/Reuters)

LONDON — They loved him when he ran, they loved him when he won, they loved him when he sped across their continent in a blitzkrieg of charm and earnestness in early April, but do they love him still? Of course they do.

According to Der Spiegel, Germany's most popular newsweekly, 82 percent of Germans believe President Barack Obama will have a positive impact on world affairs. Three-quarters of those polled would like to have Obama as their chancellor. Failing that, a similar number said they would like to have a German who was just like him in charge.

It is a good bet that if pollsters asked a similar question in any country in Europe they would get a similar number. Perhaps in France, where President Nicholas Sarkozy's habit of shooting off his mouth is losing him popularity by the month, the number would be higher.

Sarkozy is still trying to live down recent reports that at a lunch with French parliamentarians after Obama's recent visit he put the American down as having "a subtle mind, very clever and very charismatic" but "not always up to standard on decision-making and efficiency."

In many ways this initial burst of love and admiration is just a return to normal, said James Mosher, an associate professor at Ohio University, who is currently a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics.

"In their initial contacts with Europe, American presidents have always spoken of working together and have been rewarded with a honeymoon period," Mosher said. "George Bush represented a real break with the past with his aggressive, we will go it alone stance. Much of the intense feeling for Obama is relief that the old way of consultation is coming back."

But beyond the good will Obama has received by simply returning to the status quo and being a charming, charismatic person, there are specific actions the president has taken in the last three months that indicate an understanding of European concerns in the deepest sense. He has received positive notice for them.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/america-and-the-world/090427/europes-love-affair-obama