US election: Europeans endorse Obama for a second term

EurActiv ^ | 05 November 2012 | Daniela Vincenti from Washington

[Olog-hai]

If Europeans could vote tomorrow (6 November) in the US election, they would back President Barack Obama over challenger Mitt Romney, numerous polls have shown. In a survey released last week by British pollster YouGov, 90% of Europeans have said that they would vote for Obama if they could cast ballots. The reason behind it is that they don’t know much about Romney, the 65-year-old former equity investor, and find his ideas leaning too far on the right. …

Criticized at home for being too European, Obama collects support on this side of the Atlantic for his policies of expanding healthcare insurance, concern for the less well-off, social liberalism on gender and sexual orientation, and climate change. …

In Germany, Thomas Oppermann, the Social Democratic leader in the Bundestag, said that Europeans prefer Obama because he stands for social balance and social justice. “He ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is for international cooperation, and he ended the era of unilateralism pursued by George Bush—that is what makes him more sympathetic for Europeans,” Oppermann said. …

[JSDude1]

Good thing the Stinky-peans don’t get a vote ;P)!

[Olog-hai]

That goes back to Churchill’s old adage about the S-word . . .

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

[Rembrandt]

These same Europeans think Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain are doing a swell job with their countries’ finances.

[Olog-hai]

It’s just about all of them. How is it that France, only second to Germany in terms of economy, is such a financial failure all of a sudden? (Never mind the $6.4 trillion in debt that Germany has been hiding.)

[Paul R.]

Not only that (Germany’s debt), the Germans are eventually going to have a revolt of their own if they keep trying to prop up the rest of the EU.

[Olog-hai]

That’s a power play. Any loans that Germany gives out come at the cost of the borrower’s national sovereignty; those are part of the terms of such loans. Why else did the countries that took the loans resist them at first, and then get their governments replaced (suddenly) with politicians that were receptive to the loans?

[Paul R.]

That’s a power play. Any loans that Germany gives out come at the cost of the borrower’s national sovereignty; those are part of the terms of such loans. Why else did the countries that took the loans resist them at first, and then get their governments replaced (suddenly) with politicians that were receptive to the loans?

But who would want to own, say, Greece, and inherit it's debts / economy? German taxpayers? It seems unlikely...

[Olog-hai]

Taxpayers, no; elites, yes.