There has been a flurry of stories all over the world's media announcing that we are now in the last year of the Bush White House, as if most people needed to be alerted to that fact. According to this story, much of the world already knows they're in the Last Days Of President Bush, and they can't wait for him to be gone, explaining why there is such unheralded interest in the US presidential primaries.
Well, all that and the fact that coverage of US presidential primaries is a hell of an easy way to fill a few minutes of the evening news with video wire reports :
Germans are gaga over Barack Obama. He's got Japan pretty jazzed, too, along with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Russia's leaders, not so much: They prefer a Republican — as long as it's not Kremlin critic John McCain.
And Mexico's president? He doesn't have much use for any of them.
America's extraordinary presidential campaign has captivated politicians and ordinary people around the globe.
After eight years of President Bush, the latest mantra in U.S. politics — "transformational change" — is resonating across the rest of a planet desperate for a fresh start.
"They feel there's a real chance to work with the U.S.," said Julianne Smith, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "America's image in the world is really on the line."
Non-Americans, she said, are looking for someone who can "restore faith in the United States."
In the post-Bush era, the bottom line is blunt and simple, Dunleavy said.
"People all around the world are pretty worried," he said. "They want a president who will restore a kind of U.S. legitimacy in the world."
