This Op Ed by Nick Kristof today gave me goosebumps.  I support Obama primarily for who he is and for his ideas, but the single biggest impact he may have is what he represents to the rest of the world -- an open, tolerant and diverse country that does NOT believe in torture, hate all Muslims, etc.  As someone with parents who live in Kenya, a sister who lives in Karachi, Pakistan, and who travels internationally many times a year, I'm especially aware of how badly damaged the American brand is -- so much so that I think it's impossible to overstate the damage that this reckless, arrogant, incompetent administration has done.  Pretty much the entire rest of the world HATES this administration with a passion -- and that is very, very dangerous to us.  For example, the Muslim extremists who present the greatest threat to us (and all civilized people) thrive when the mainsteam Muslim population of the world hates us because they think we hate them.  Imagine a President who has dark skin like them, who attended an Islamic school as a youth, who knows the Muslim prayers -- it makes it really hard for the Islamofacists to paint us as The Great Satan...  Despite the damage that's been done, however, I'm incredible optimistic that President Obama can reverse it because people around the world WANT to love us -- this administration has just made it impossible.

We're beginning to get a sense of how Barack Obama's political success could change global perceptions of the United States, redefining the American "brand" to be less about Guantánamo and more about equality. This change in perceptions would help rebuild American political capital in the way that the Marshall Plan did in the 1950s or that John Kennedy's presidency did in the early 1960s.

In his endorsement of Mr. Obama, Colin Powell noted that "the new president is going to have to fix the reputation that we've left with the rest of the world." That's not because we crave admiration, but because cooperation is essential to address 21st-century challenges; you can't fire cruise missiles at the global financial crisis.

In his endorsement, Mr. Powell added that an Obama election "will also not only electrify our country, I think it'll electrify the world." You can already see that. A 22-nation survey by the BBC found that voters abroad preferred Mr. Obama to Mr. McCain in every single country — by four to one over all. Nearly half of those in the BBC poll said that the election of Mr. Obama, an African-American, would "fundamentally change" their perceptions of the United States.

Europe is particularly intoxicated by the possibility of restoring amity with America in an Obama presidency. As The Economist put it: "Across the Continent, Bush hatred has been replaced by Obama-mania."

Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, which conducted the BBC poll, said that at a recent international conference he attended in Malaysia, many Muslims voiced astonishment at Mr. Obama's rise because it was so much at odds with their assumptions about the United States. Remember that the one thing countless millions of people around the world "know" about the United States is that it is controlled by a cabal of white bankers and Jews who use police with fire hoses to repress blacks. To them, Mr. Obama's rise triggers severe cognitive dissonance.

"It's an anomaly, so contrary to their expectation that it makes them receptive to a new paradigm for the U.S.," Mr. Kull said.

Europeans like to mock the vapidity of American politics, but they also acknowledge that it would be difficult to imagine a brown or black person leading France or Germany.

As for Africa, Mr. Obama's Kenyan father was of the Luo tribe, a minority that has long suffered brutal discrimination in both Kenya and in Uganda (where it is known as the Acholi). The bitter joke in East Africa is that a Luo has more of a chance of becoming president in the United States than in Kenya.

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October 23, 2008

Op-Ed Columnist

Rebranding the U.S. With Obama

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/opinion/23kristof.html

The other day I had a conversation with a Beijing friend and I mentioned that Barack Obama was leading in the presidential race:

She: Obama? But he's the black man, isn't he?

Me: Yes, exactly.

She: But surely a black man couldn't become president of the United States?

Me: It looks as if he'll be elected.

She: But president? That's such an important job! In America, I thought blacks were janitors and laborers.

Me: No, blacks have all kinds of jobs.

She: What do white people think about that, about getting a black president? Are they upset? Are they angry?

Me: No, of course not! If Obama is elected, it'll be because white people voted for him.

[Long pause.]

She: Really? Unbelievable! What an amazing country!

We're beginning to get a sense of how Barack Obama's political success could change global perceptions of the United States, redefining the American "brand" to be less about Guantánamo and more about equality. This change in perceptions would help rebuild American political capital in the way that the Marshall Plan did in the 1950s or that John Kennedy's presidency did in the early 1960s.