My Green Meadows

Europe’s Craze For A Black U.S.President

Image by jmtimages via Flickr

There is something odd about the European mania for a black American politician, even as we all know that a black president or prime minister (let alone one whose middle name is Hussein) is still unthinkable in Europe.

Actually, Europeans have long been hospitable to black American stars.They could pat themselves on the back for their lack of racial prejudice

Another reason for the European love affair with Obama is that he is seen as something more than an American. Obama looks like a citizen of the world.

But the main reason for Obamamania may be more complex. It has become popular of late for European pundits and commentators to write the U.S. off as a great power, let alone an inspirational one.

Under all the confident-sounding dismissals of U.S. power, there is still some yearning to return to a more reassuring time, when the democratic world could lay its collective head on Uncle Sam‘s broad shoulders.

Obama’s election has demonstrated that things are still achievable in the U.S. that remain unthinkable elsewhere. As long as this is so, the U.S., as primus inter pares, can still be looked up to as the defender of  freedoms.

Full Version