BEIRUT — No one's tossing confetti or releasing balloons, but U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's ascent to likely Democratic Party presidential nominee has captivated many of those watching the American political contest abroad.
Newspaper front pages and television newscasts throughout the world Wednesday featured photographs and footage of the smiling Illinois lawmaker, who a day earlier clinched the Democratic nomination by winning enough delegates to edge out Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The conservative French daily Le Figaro described him as "the man in a hurry who dethroned Hillary." The left-leaning London-based Guardian called him "a political giant slayer" who defeated his own party's entrenched interest. And in Mexico, an editorial cartoon in the daily Reforma depicted him as a Christ-like figure atop the Democratic donkey on Palm Sunday.
"Obama's America on the doorstep of history," said a headline on the front page of As Safir here in Lebanon.
Obama remains intensely popular throughout the world. According to a poll released this week by the pan-Arab Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel, more than half of those interviewed in 22 countries preferred Obama over Clinton or Republican John McCain, who was the least recognized and least preferred presidential candidate.
Even in stridently anti-American Iran, state-controlled television showed video of Obama making a speech behind a lectern bearing a placard reading "Change."
"It's a matter of the heart. It's a matter of affiliation," said Radwan Abdullah, a professor of international relations at the University of Jordan in Amman. "He's a minority African American from the Third World. He was the underdog. People identify with his type."
Still, some analysts expressed concern about Obama's foreign policy positions. In Turkey, some worried about his support for Armenians, who are locked in a dispute with Turks over the Armenian genocide of the early 20th century. There has been some nervousness in Tokyo about whether Obama's criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement hints at possible trade disputes for Japan's export-dependent economy. Many Israelis worry that Obama has been too willing to negotiate with the Jewish state's enemies, especially Iran.
Some Israelis were heartened by remarks he made Wednesday at a conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, where he declared his willingness to confront Iran and support a unified Jerusalem as capital of Israel, a position that appeared to go beyond even the Bush administration's position on Jerusalem.
