Around world, Obama's presidency a disappointment

AP ^ | 5-12-12 | DON MELVIN and ROD McGUIRK

[Mikey_1962]

In Europe, where more than 200,000 people thronged a Berlin rally in 2008 to hear Barack Obama speak, there's disappointment that he hasn't kept his promise to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, and perceptions that he's shunting blame for the financial crisis across the Atlantic.

In Mogadishu, a former teacher wishes he had sent more economic assistance and fewer armed drones to fix Somalia's problems.

And many in the Middle East wonder what became of Obama's vow, in a landmark 2009 speech at the University of Cairo, to forge a closer relationship with the Muslim world. In a world weary of war and economic crises, and concerned about global climate change, the consensus is that Obama has not lived up to the lofty expectations that surrounded his 2008 election and Nobel Peace Prize a year later.

Many in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America were also taken aback by his support for gay marriage, a taboo subject among religious conservatives. But the Democrat still enjoys broad international support. In large part, it's because of unfavorable memories of his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, and many people would still prefer Obama over his presumptive Republican challenger Mitt Romney. "We all had high hopes for him," said Filomena Cunha, an office worker in Lisbon, Portugal, who said she's struggling to make ends meet. "But then things got bad and there's not much he can do for us over here." Obama's rock-star-like reception at Berlin's Victory Column in the summer of 2008 was a high point of a wildly successful European campaign tour. The thawing of a harsh anti-Americanism that had thrived in Europe was as much a reaction to the Bush years as it was an embrace of the presidential hopeful.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

Just turn the tables on him and tell him that the papers here say that the British are absolutely responsible for all the violence that occurred in Northern Ireland and the bombings in the UK carried out by IRA, that the Queen had Diana killed, and the British are losing their teeth.

[justa-hairyape]

Gee, you mean awarding a Nobel Peace prize to a new American President that had a history of voting present in the US senate, was a bad thing ? You might have thought that voting present so much, might have given someone a clue that the man had no core convictions. All that matters to him is the money and the power.

Precisely the type of person who would eventually earn the Nobel War Prize !

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

LOL!

[ntnychik]

The German crowd came for a rock concert. Zero used his brief stage poaching for a photo op.

[IronJack]

Seriously, what did they expect? Only the most gullible, self-deluded ass would have believed this complete political neophyte could deliver on any of the vapid garbage he promised. And now, when the unicorn doesn’t crap golden apples, they’re acting surprised? In this case, the fault lies as much with their adolescent naivete as it does with Obonehead’s incompetence.

[SandRat]

See you had a good laugh, hope you also got the message in it.

[SunkenCiv]

What took ‘em so long? Thanks Mikey_1962.

[SunkenCiv]

Great! Thanks SandRat.

[potlatch]

At least he didn’t sing......I hope, lol.