News Release

Heard on campus – International view of 2008 election

October 6, 2009

“The American presidential election is no longer just an American event – it has become a global event.”

That statement framed the presentation by international scholar Matthias Maass Sept. 29 at Penn State Harrisburg as he shared an international view of the election race which saw Barack Obama ascent to the White House.

Drawing from The World Views of the U.S. Presidential Election 2008, a volume he edited and will be published in December, Maass said, “Many nations of the world saw the election results of 2008 as the “undoing of the election of 2004; a final vote against George W. Bush to make clear the shift in opinion among the electorate.” The faculty member at Yonsei University in South Korea added there is a desire for a “softer” U.S leadership that listens more.

Even in the eyes of those who will never come to the U.S., the Obama “rags to riches” story and victory reestablished the American Dream in many foreign eyes and repositioned it again as the land of opportunity, he pointed out.

His new book includes chapter-by-chapter case studies of the reaction to the campaign and election by 13 nations of the world. Some of his nation profiles included:

Mexico – Focused on bilateral issues such as immigration with Obama being seen as more appealing.

Brazil – Feared Democratic protectionism, but felt a lack of connection to the U.S. in the Bush years and that Obama would be more likely to establish stronger diplomatic and economic ties.

United Kingdom – The nation was tightly involved with Bush in the war on terror, but there is a growing desire to disentangle the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from world-wide anti-terrorism efforts. Britons felt Obama had an ability to “think outside the box” and that McCain was bound to existing policy.

France – Anyone would have been welcomed by the French “as long as it was not George Bush.”

China – With views similar to Russia’s, China said “please make room for us on the world stage. Obama was favored and McCain was seen as another Bush.