Europe Reacts to Obama Victory

Europeans were rooting for Barack Obama to win the U.S. Presidency, but now that he's the victor, some are showing more cautious enthusiasm

By Andy Reinhardt

From Birmingham to Bratislava, Europeans watched the long U.S. Presidential race with growing fascination, convinced that the outcome would affect Europe and the rest of the world as much as it did America. It's no secret many were rooting for Barack Obama: Polls showed that in countries such as France and Germany, support for the Democratic candidate ranged between 65% and 80% of the population. The sense of engagement was typified by an editorial appearing early this year in Belgian newspaper De Standaard suggesting that given the stakes—on issues ranging from energy to climate change to the mortgage crisis—everybody in the world should be able to cast a vote in the U.S. Presidential election.

So when Europeans awoke on Nov. 5 to see that their preferred candidate had prevailed, they reacted with relief and elation—and a certain amount of morning-after caution. Editorials in major papers around the Continent generally praised America's selection. Britain's left-leaning Guardian called it "a milestone in America's racial and cultural evolution." Even the more conservative Daily Telegraph, while noting its concerns about Obama's inexperience, called his victory a "watershed" and "remarkable triumph of hope over adversity."

German papers expressed a mix of awe and skepticism. Writing in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Reyman Klüver said: "The election of Barack Obama was an act of self-liberation for America." But Sabine Muscat of the Financial Times Deutschland focused on a daunting list of challenges faced by the President-elect, from war and foreign policy crises to crumbling national infrastructure and empty fiscal coffers. France's Le Monde was more generous: "He is the man we need, and his time has arrived."

"Breath of Fresh Air"

For many Europeans, still disturbed by the Iraq war and newly outraged by a global financial crisis whose origins they lay squarely on the U.S., the end of the Bush era can't come soon enough. British television commentator and media entrepreneur David Frost called Obama's win "terrific, just the breath of fresh air that was needed." But even as many European business leaders and analysts took delight in the U.S.'s capacity to reinvent itself, they're already sounding notes of caution about unrealistic expectations for change and the manifest challenges Obama faces.

Undeniably, the most immediate crisis is the economic situation. Daniel Vasella, the chief executive of Basel (Switzerland)-based pharmaceutical giant Novartis (NVS) says the new President "has the very unpleasant job" of fixing a financial mess that regulators should have spotted earlier. "The question is to what degree government can clean up without having the economy go into a deep recession," he says, adding that he believes "tighter regulation is unavoidable."

Obama's limited wiggle room is clearly a concern. "Throughout the Presidential campaign, Barack Obama has demonstrated both trustworthiness and a sound understanding of economic issues," says Klaus Zimmermann, president of the Berlin-based German Institute for Economic Research, a leading think tank. But "his vision of a more just and equitable society is in danger of being crushed by the harsh realities of the financial crisis and its disastrous effect on the budget and U.S. economy."