PARIS — From prime ministers to college students, Europeans want to cloak Barack Obama in a warm embrace when he arrives on the continent next week. But they're also aware that anything that looks or smells like elitist Old Europe could hurt the Democratic contender with voters back home.
Obama has yet to finalize his itinerary for Europe. However, he is already set to skip Brussels, the capital of the modern united continent, for the traditional symbols of economic and military power: London, Paris and Berlin.
All those European capitals' leaders have expressed a willingness to adapt their schedules to see the American politician whose sky-high approval ratings in their countries are at least as good as their own. Polls reveal that if they could vote in the United States, between 53% and 72% of the British, French and German public would pull the lever for Obama.
"If Britons elected American presidents, Barack Obama would have no worries," began an editorial in the left-wing British newspaper, the Guardian.
Yet the editorial also recognized that his popularity in Europe would not help at home: "To be seen as Europe's pet is the last thing a presidential candidate needs -- especially one who wants to shed his elitist image with white working-class American voters."
In France, where Obama's liberal profile appeals to both Socialists and members of President Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right party, pundits recalled that four years ago most of Europe gushed over Democrat John F. Kerry (who spoke impeccable French).
"Look at what good that did him," a Sarkozy friend noted dryly during this week's swanky Bastille Day celebrations in the garden of the presidential Elysee Palace.
"We're not trying to give advice to Americans," said Samuel Solvit, 22, a French business student who started an Obama support committee in Paris that counts prominent politicians among its 3,000 members. "We just wanted to show that we admire Sen. Obama because he can renew politics in America -- and in the world."
At his monthly news conference Monday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested topics for his second meeting with Obama (they saw each other in Washington this spring), including soaring food and oil prices.
Clearly, the centerpiece of Obama's European visit will be a speech in Berlin. Across Europe, the chattering class has been caught up in the polemic within the German government over whether he should give that address in front of the historic Brandenburg Gate near where a wall once divided East and West Berlin.
