100 posts
Obama Inauguration Open Thread
NEW
We know the challenges ahead are daunting We worry about what Obama will want or...
Post-Bush syndrome in Europe
NEW
Europe watches with baited breath as Barack Obama is inaugurated the 44th president of the United States on 20 January. After eight years of deterioration in the transatlantic alliance, has Europe’s confidence in the US been irreparably shaken?
Obama's Inauguration-Poul Nyrup Rasmussen's blogging from Washington DC
NEW
I was there! PNR in DC I am not the only one looking forward to the inauguration tomorrow of Barack Obama as President of the US.30,000 buses, countless cars, special trains – maybe as many as 2.5 million Americans are coming to Washingto...
A curious way to welcome Obama
NEW
Here we go again. As Europe’s great hope for future Transatlantic relations was making his triumphal way to the White House the European Commission was taking another pop at Microsoft. It seems only yesterday that after years of dispute the Commis...
Obama's Wish List for Europe
NEW
"NATO's 60th anniversary summit in France and Germany in April, 2009 may well offer Europeans their first reality check on the 44th president," write Michael F. Harsch and Calin Trenkov-Wermuth in the School of Advanced International Studie...
What digital citizens should expect from president Obama
NEW
As you probably have understood, I’m quite fascinated by Barack Obama and the new kind of politician he seems to be. I do support several of his policies (green jobs and innovations, better health care/social security in America, get America ou...
What 'Obama effect' for transatlantic relations?
NEW
by Tomas ValasekEurope got the president it wanted on November 4th. Obama will have Europe's goodwill and with it, a window of opportunity to restore transatlantic co-operation on key security issues. The list of common challenges includes, but is no...
Central European expectations from the new American president
NEW
Central Europe is one of the small parts of the world where Barack Obama and John McCain enjoyed a same level of support by non-voting non-Americans. This is a very striking contrast with Western Europe, which was the most pro-Obama part of the world...
Impact of Obama Presidency on relations with China
NEW
Chinese analysts are understandably examining how an Obama presidency will affect Sino-American relations. It is early days as the President-elect held his first press conference only yesterday and has only made one senior appointment. In his fir...
Watson welcomes new President
NEW
South West and EU-wide wide Liberal Leader Graham Watson MEP this afternoon welcomed the result of the Liberal Democrat Party Presidential election, and congratulated his good friend who he supported on her campaign Ros Scott on her victory.
Barack O’Bama
NEW
Apparently a great-great-great grandfather of his came from Ireland, and at least one visitor reports that this is all the rage right now. From the chorus: “O’Leary, O’Reilly, O’Hare and O’Hara/There’s no one as Ir...
What Barack Obama does next
NEW
The newspapers and airwaves, having speculated and then reported on the outcome of the US election, are now speculating about what it means. The biggest significance will be for American domestic policy and race relations, which are really outside t...
OBAMA'S LANDMARK VICTORY
NEW
The excitement surrounding Obama's victory reminds me of Tony Blair's landslide in 1997. I was there on 2 May when Whitehall was besieged by exuberant well-wishers. The mood stayed that way for some years and Tony Blair never lost an election. His...
Timothy Garton Ash: Obama can appeal to America's greatest power resource: the can-do spirit
NEW
Obama is not just their first black president. He is their first post-ethnic leader, showing the way for a mixed-up worldTo join that ebullient crowd in front of the White House shortly after midnight on Tuesday November 4 2008 was to dance with hist...
Fellows, do not be over-optimistic about Barack Obama
NEW
After Senator of Illinois, Mr. Barack Obama has become US president-elect, many European leaders expressed their high expectations immediately. Very shortly, there have been much said about multilateral approach and mutual cooperation in areas of int...
Posts from America (4) - Judgement day
NEW
We’ve been on the streets of the voting precincts of Centennial Hills in NW Vegas since 6am. It’s an area, like all of Vegas, which is carved out of the dessert. To me it feels a bit like human beings will only be here temporarily. I writ...
Influences behind President Barack Obama’s thinking
NEW
The ‘audacity of hope’ will replace the ‘climate of fear’ in the White House in January. It is useful to reflect on the influences behind President Barack Obama’s thinking. He stated, in his ‘national security strategyR...
American election
NEW
Hurried up to watch early TV-news this morning and cheered together with my youngest son for Barack Obama’s over-whelming victory! YES – there are huge problems ahead of him and the USA, YES – expectations may be too high, YES – he will p...
Barack Obama’s New Strategy for a New World
NEW
The 44th President of the United States is largely an unknown quantity. Thousands of words have been and will continue to be devoted to an analysis of his thinking and likely actions. Obama’s first priorities will necessarily be domes...
Obama, the past and the present
NEW
I'm not going to say anything about Obama's plans, policies and centrism/socialism right now, because...
Congratulating the American people
NEW
Much has been said about the election of a new President of the United States of America. The people have spoken, and I congratulate them on their choice of executive.br /br /As a citizen of the European Union, I would just like to add an observation...
Obama “seeks not to seduce but to convince”
NEW
Welcome President Barack Obama! The world’s spotlight is now on a White House of hope and not one of fear. But we all have to wait and see. The biggest doubt remains over Obama’s lack of experience. Simon Serfaty’s short int...
US election reactions: ‘sleeping a little better’ after the Obama win
NEW
pFrom London to New York on 4 November, a selection of correspondents trace the historic night when Barack Obama became the first black president of the United Statesbr/p...
Barak Obama, a president for a new transatlantic partnership
NEW
Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament give three cheers to Barack Obama on his well-deserved victory. Senator Obama has redrawn the electoral map, reshaped the debate in American politics and revived hope for America's future.
Excited About Obama, Realistic about Transatlantic Cooperation
NEW
pfont face=VerdanaGerman and American policy pundits and exchange students look forward to a new phase in transatlantic relations, but also recognize the limits of further US-European cooperation. That's my conclusion from speaking to dozens of Ameri...
Obama Election: EU Reactions
NEW
With Obama’s Coronation as the new President of the United States of America, Europe was quick to react. A collection of reactions can be found below: European Commission: COMMISSION PRESIDENT BARROSO CONGRATULATES SENATOR BARACK OBAMA Comm...
Obama, Obama!
NEW
● President Barack Obama: I am not as euphoric as Democrats, but I certainly wake up to start imagining a more peaceful future. But this vicious cycle prevents me to be more euphoric: It is the same American nation...
THE NEXT AMERICAN PRESIDENT
NEW
So Obama has won. Indeed we have won. I think we’ve known for some time what the result would be and it’s now confirmed.br /br /Americans have at last faced up to the racism in their past and voted to draw that terrible era to a close.br /br /A...
Open letter to US President (selected) Obama
NEW
First let me congratulate you for your landslide winning of US elections. Second please let me inform about one of many short-comings of still present administration – namely Kosovo case. Few months ago I was reading very interesting interview of...
Twitter, the US elections and Brussels
NEW
Image via CrunchBase Check out the coverage of the use of Twitter in the US elections today referenced over at the Guardian but picked up widely elsewhere, here and here. As Americans are going to the polls they have been able to report their experi...
Five Reasons Obama would not be Elected in Europe
NEW
font size=2 face=VerdanaDenis Boyles argues in the a href=http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGJjNTI0MWZjMzgyZTkwZmZiMjExMmVkN2U1ZTEyYjI=National Review/a that while the vast majority of Europeans are hoping Obama will be elected President of the U...
A night to remember
NEW
Whatever happens tonight, it’s going to be one to remember I reckon. Is it just me, or does the whole day have that “on the cusp of history” feel about it? I have a friend coming round who used to live in the US and an American frie...
US Election Open Thread
NEW
The thread with most comments in ET history has 292 340 comments. Will we do...
The Vote
NEW
Its the biggest political spectacle on the planet, and it only comes around once every four years, so I couldn't let the US elections pass by without a final blog post. There are three things I'm looking out for as the action unfolds this evening, ou...
Why I expect today’s victory of Barack Obama?
NEW
As I am thinking about presidential election in US today, unfortunately, I must predict that Barack Obama runs for victory. To be more concrete, I would vote for McCain because of his political ideas, right-oriented economic belief, ethical va...
Videos: bye Bush, bye to an eight-year tragicomedy
NEW
pIn the end, the outgoing US chief wasn’t only at war with Iraq, but over climate change, the financial crisis and the English language. A look back at his biggest bloopers. The next president is announced on 4 November/p...
A President for “Hard Times”?
NEW
Whoever wins the US Presidency today will be facing the ultimate challenge: steering a self-destructing Western-based economic growth model through a painful transition towards a new global sustainability. This is a task far beyond any past Apollo pr...
A moment of goodwill
NEW
A notable characteristic of American foreign policy has been the extent of continuity from one president to the next. There are exceptions, of course, but fewer than you might think.George W Bush has been misunderestimated, for example, in that the...
Posts from America (3) - The only day that counts is tomorrow
NEW
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Michelle Obama flew in today and held a rally at the College of South Nevada. The accompanying photo shows her at the event. Her speech went down really well with the enthusiastic audience of around five hundred, wh...
Obama and the EU
NEW
MAIN FOCUS: Obama and the EU | 30/10/2008 A week before the US elections the European press asks why the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is so popular in Europe. Some hope that if Obama becomes president he will...
Elections in the USA: the backstage of campaigns
NEW
Elections in the USA: the backstage of campaignsbr \p class="MsoNormal" style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #333333; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.5pt"On...
Example of smooth political video
NEW
Obama’s 30-minute infomercial video aired one week before the 2008 presidential elections. more about "Example of smooth political video", posted with vodpod...
Videos: Sarah Palin, from porn films to Pakistani compliments
NEW
pcJohn McCain’s Republican running mate for the US presidential elections on 4 November has become a live blessing for television and the internet, who exhibit a certain machismo in their criticism/p...
One week before election 2.0 - new tools
NEW
No, I not talking about the upcoming elections in the Czech republic, the Maldives, Lithuania or in Zambia, which are also taking place really soon. I’m talking about “that one”, the American one. I’ve been following the Techp...
Barack Obama's Popularity in Germany
NEW
pfont size=2 face=VerdanaAndrew Hammel, who runs the popular blog a href=http://andrewhammel.typepad.com/German Joys/a/fontfont size=2 face=Verdana and teaches Anglo-American Law at Heinrich Heine university, says that Germans are obsessed by Obama a...
"Don't vote!"
NEW
bDon't vote! Please, don't vote!/bbr /object width="425" height="344"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0vtHwWReGU0hl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0vtHwWReGU0hl=enfs=1...
McCain-Europe relations questionable- Obama perhaps not!
NEW
To be honest I don’t quite know where I stand on the Obama-McCain question. But something tells me that when it comes to Europe, it seems Obama is the candidate that will be more… reliable. Having heard what some have described as Obama&...
Europe Still Favours Obama, but has it Lost Faith in the US?
NEW
Obama may be having trouble in the polls lately in the US, but a new a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7606100.stm"poll /aby the BBC released yesterday shows that he is still favoured by the rest of the world by a large margin. A poll...
Back to the Culture Wars: Palin's Brilliant Debut
NEW
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wonkette.com/assets/resources/2008/03/sarah_palin_ap.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 110px; height: 148px;" src="http:/...
Election 2008 and American Disability Policy
NEW
Commentators in the United States speculate that the 2008 presidential election will be a close one once again. With many states in play, candidates will turn to the some 54 million disabled to shore up their vote tallies in places like Pennsylvani...
Obama’s European Trip and Transatlantic (In)compatibility
NEW
Much of the commentary on the recent trip by Senator Barack Obama to Europe has–understandably–focused on what his trip means for U.S. presidential politics. But one can also ask about what it tells us about future transatlantic relatio...
Here is Your Article on McCain: There are no Articles on McCain!
NEW
We your Editors have received some reader emails this week that express concern we are writing about Obama too much, McCain too little.I tend to agree Obama is covered disproportionately on AR, but I think it is important for people to realize that o...
Barack Obama’s European Vacation
NEW
I’ve largely ignored Obama’s European vacation because - like that fairly shoddy Chevy Chase vehicle - I couldn’t see the point of it. But one thing from his much-analysed Berlin speech did stick out - and I’ve not seen it com...
Barack Obama goes home
NEW
Kuwait - Afghanistan - Iraq - Jordan - Israel - West Bank - Berlin - Paris - London, was the Barack Obama itinerary for the past week. The ‘celebrity tour’ element was a great success. However, the tour was part of his American electoral...
Obama in Berlin - and a message for Fortress Europe
NEW
A real Christian Democrat is finally in Berlin – and the message includes humanity for immigrants and religious and racial minorities - but includes the same ol' Cold War, American "leadership of Europe." I thought that the speech given by Barack O...
What Germans Think of Barack Obama: Continuity We Can Believe In
NEW
The majority of Germans support Barack Obama for the US presidency, not because they believe he will radically change US policy, but because he is expected to return it to the familiar pre-Bush trajectory. This is the conclusion from my colleague Ben...
Obama in Berlin: behind the cheering crowds
NEW
Obama's speech in front of the Victory Column in Berlin was an unqualified campaign success....
By Giving a Speech in Berlin, Obama is Playing with Fire
NEW
This is a guest post by the US journalist David Francis: As a journalist who covers U.S-European relations and as a U.S. citizen who hopes for better relations with Europe in the next administration, it was quite gratifying to see so many Berliners w...
Barack Obama’s Berlin Speech
NEW
For the people who missed Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin yesterday, here it is again. The event will certainly become a modern political classic!
Obama Keeps it Global
NEW
One of the first things I picked up in the audience after Obama's speech was 'fast genau eine halbe Stunde' (almost exactly half an hour). The audience was keeping time. After many had waited for two hours or longer, they were perhaps expecting more?
Obama, Berlin and the world
NEW
So what did we expect from Barack Obama’s foreign policy speech in Berlin? Since Barack Obama is not even the official democratic candidate yet, and obviously not the US President, I think expectations were hugely exaggerated. Apart from that...
No, Barack Obama couldn't!
NEW
Sorry, but this was kind of weak. This was a political speech, but not a historic one.Okay, Obama presented some nice rhetoric, he got his applause, he made his compliments, he has his visions, but you could hear with every word that he tried to avoi...
Yes I could!
NEW
If I left now, I still could be in time for Senator Obama's speech here in Berlin. YES, I COULD! This man knows how to deliver a speech. And I love listening to him - not for everything he is saying, but for saying some excellent things in his positi...
Obama in Berlin
NEW
Can’t find any pictures yet, but I’ve seen blogs of people coming up from Prague just to see him. That’s about a five-hour trip each way by train (no ICE connection yet). Expectations on the radio this morning were that the event wo...
Understanding Berlin, a pre- Obama speech guide
NEW
Obama's high-profile speech tomorrow in Berlin is fostering all kinds of tragic misunderstandings.On the size of the crowd, the Deutsche Welle reports that Berlin authorities are expecting up to a million people tomorrow, at the Siegessäule. Thi...
