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| Abroad, Obama’s Victory Brings Demands for Attention | Abroad, Obama’s Victory Brings Demands for Attention |
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| LONDON — World leaders sought comfort from the familiar on Wednesday after President Obama’s re-election but, with the global political landscape substantially unchanged and crises on hold while the vote unfolded, many vied with new vigor for his attention and favor as he embarks on a second term. | |
| In marked contrast to a euphoric surge four years ago when many hailed Mr. Obama’s victory as a herald of renewal, the mood was subdued, reflecting not only the shadings of opinion between the American leader’s friends and foes but also a generally lowered expectations of America’s power overseas. | In marked contrast to a euphoric surge four years ago when many hailed Mr. Obama’s victory as a herald of renewal, the mood was subdued, reflecting not only the shadings of opinion between the American leader’s friends and foes but also a generally lowered expectations of America’s power overseas. |
| Mr. Obama, one French analyst said, is “very far from the hopes that inflamed his country four years ago.” | Mr. Obama, one French analyst said, is “very far from the hopes that inflamed his country four years ago.” |
| Even in Kenya, where Mr. Obama’s father was from, the energy surrounding this election was just a shadow of what it had been in 2008, when it seemed like the entire African continent was cheering him on. Many Kenyans have been disappointed that Mr. Obama has yet to visit as president, part of a broader feeling on the continent that Africa has not been a priority, certainly not compared to the unfolding nuclear debate in Iran and or the civil war in Syria. | |
| Some were not slow to remind Mr. Obama of their requirements. | |
| Danny Danon, the deputy speaker of Parliament regarded as a staunch ally of the Republicans, evoked “the existential threat posed to Israel and the West by the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran. ” | |
| “Now is the time for President Obama to return to the wise and time-honored policy of ‘zero daylight’ between our respective nations,” he said. | “Now is the time for President Obama to return to the wise and time-honored policy of ‘zero daylight’ between our respective nations,” he said. |
| Mr. Danon is a member of the conservative Likud Party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has tense relations with Mr. Obama and who was widely perceived in Israel and the United States as having supported the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. | Mr. Danon is a member of the conservative Likud Party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has tense relations with Mr. Obama and who was widely perceived in Israel and the United States as having supported the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. |
| “It was our mistake that Bibi went and kissed the other one before the election,” said Michael Pashko, a worker in an electrical supplies store in Jerusalem, referring to the prime minister by his nickname. “Those kisses will cost him dearly.” | “It was our mistake that Bibi went and kissed the other one before the election,” said Michael Pashko, a worker in an electrical supplies store in Jerusalem, referring to the prime minister by his nickname. “Those kisses will cost him dearly.” |
| Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said in a brief statement that he hoped President Obama would press for peace in the Middle East. | Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said in a brief statement that he hoped President Obama would press for peace in the Middle East. |
| That call seemed mirrored in Malaysia, where Prime Minister Najib Razak urged Mr. Obama to “continue in his efforts to foster understanding and respect between the United States and Muslims around the world” — a relationship to which the American leader committed himself at the beginning of a first term | |
| Before the outcome was known, Chinese analysts had summed up what seemed to be a widespread calculation that the Chinese leadership, itself scheduled to change in two days time, favored Mr. Obama “because he’s familiar,” said Wu Xinbo, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. A victory for Mr. Romney would have made China “a little nervous because he might bring new policies.” | Before the outcome was known, Chinese analysts had summed up what seemed to be a widespread calculation that the Chinese leadership, itself scheduled to change in two days time, favored Mr. Obama “because he’s familiar,” said Wu Xinbo, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. A victory for Mr. Romney would have made China “a little nervous because he might bring new policies.” |
| Chinese President Hu Jintao, praised the “hard work of the Chinese and American sides” over Mr. Obama’s first term in creating “positive developments” in their relationship. | Chinese President Hu Jintao, praised the “hard work of the Chinese and American sides” over Mr. Obama’s first term in creating “positive developments” in their relationship. |
| “With an eye toward the future, China is willing, together with the United States, to continue to make efforts to promote the cooperative partnership between China and the United States so as to achieve new and even greater development, bringing better benefits to the people of the two countries and the people of the world.” | “With an eye toward the future, China is willing, together with the United States, to continue to make efforts to promote the cooperative partnership between China and the United States so as to achieve new and even greater development, bringing better benefits to the people of the two countries and the people of the world.” |
| China’s response was colored by a pre-election pledge from Mr. Romney to label Beijing a currency manipulator. “With Obama continuing,” said Poon Tsang, a street market vendor in Hong Kong, “there should be some stability in his relationship with China.” | China’s response was colored by a pre-election pledge from Mr. Romney to label Beijing a currency manipulator. “With Obama continuing,” said Poon Tsang, a street market vendor in Hong Kong, “there should be some stability in his relationship with China.” |
| Across Europe, many greeted news of the Obama re-election with a sense of mild relief, though it was not immediately clear whether those feelings were accompanied by any enhanced expectation that, armed with a new mandate, the Obama administration would find solutions to the huge challenges still facing it in Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East. | |
| Imran Kahn, a prominent Pakistani politician, urged the re-elected Mr. Obama to “give peace a chance” after a first term marked by “increased drone attacks, a surge in Afghanistan, increased militancy in Pakistan as a result of that.” | |
| Most Afghans appeared pleased by President Obama’s re-election, welcoming the continuity it offered in a country buffeted violently by change and conflict over the past few years, although many were worried that Mr. Obama could accelerate the withdrawal of United States troops from the country, due for 2014. | |
| The American leader is also under pressure to increase his involvement in ending the Syrian war. | |
| Speaking to reporters during a visit to Jordan, British Prime Minister David Cameron said early on Wednesday: “One of the first things I want to talk to Barack about is how we must do more to try and solve this crisis.” | |
| On the ground, rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad seemed divided over the impact of a second term for Mr. Obama. A commander who asked to be identified only by his first name, Maysara, said he expected Washington to take a much clearer stance within 10 days. “If they don’t, Syria will become like Somalia,” he said. | |
| By contrast, Fawaz Tello, an opposition figure living in Germany, referred to a Romney proposal to help the rebels while “Obama made no clear proposals.” A second term for Mr. Obama, he said, was “not a good sign.” | By contrast, Fawaz Tello, an opposition figure living in Germany, referred to a Romney proposal to help the rebels while “Obama made no clear proposals.” A second term for Mr. Obama, he said, was “not a good sign.” |
| Some of the favorable responses to Mr. Obama reflected campaign blunders by Mr. Romney who drew barbs from both Britons and Spaniards for remarks about their countries. | |
| “We in Spain wanted Obama to win because he is more like us, we still see him as a transformative leader,” said Manel Manchon, a political scientist. “Romney insulted Spain and you can’t just blame Spain for this crisis.” | |
| Like most western Europeans, Britons are broadly more liberal than Americans; even most British Conservatives sympathize far more with Democrat than with Republican views on social issues like abortion, the death penalty and health care. | Like most western Europeans, Britons are broadly more liberal than Americans; even most British Conservatives sympathize far more with Democrat than with Republican views on social issues like abortion, the death penalty and health care. |
| There is a also a perception in Britain and elsewhere in Europe that a Romney government would have been parochial, suspicious of foreigners and untested in world affairs, while Mr. Obama’s victory, as the left-leaning Guardian put it, “is good for Americans, good for America, and good for the world.” | |
| Britain has been a close ally of successive American administrations in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and in its response to the so-called Arab Spring, priding itself on what Prime Minister Cameron and others call a “special relationship.” | |
| Washington’s reach elsewhere seemed more ambiguous. | |
| After his election in 2008, for instance, Mr. Obama promised a “reset” with Moscow. But the United States and Russia took opposing positions on the Libyan and Syrian crises and the Kremlin has depicted the American response to anti-government protests in Moscow as undermining the return to power of President Vladimir V. Putin. | After his election in 2008, for instance, Mr. Obama promised a “reset” with Moscow. But the United States and Russia took opposing positions on the Libyan and Syrian crises and the Kremlin has depicted the American response to anti-government protests in Moscow as undermining the return to power of President Vladimir V. Putin. |
| Russian leaders “feel they have been duped and victimized and the U.S. has it in for them,” said Vladimir Pozner, who hosts a talk show on Russia’s Channel One. But after Mr. Obama’s victory became clear, Russian officials issued the most optimistic comments to be heard in months about relations with the United States. | |
| Dmitri S. Peskov, spokesman for President Putin, said that “in general, the Kremlin took the news about Barack Obama’s victory in the elections quite positively.” | |
| In Indonesia, where Mr. Obama spent some of his childhood years, students at his former elementary school cheered his victory, as did elite Indonesians gathered at a party hosted by the American Embassy. On the streets, motorcycle taxi drivers raised their fists, shouting “Obama, Obama.” | In Indonesia, where Mr. Obama spent some of his childhood years, students at his former elementary school cheered his victory, as did elite Indonesians gathered at a party hosted by the American Embassy. On the streets, motorcycle taxi drivers raised their fists, shouting “Obama, Obama.” |
| For some Europeans, the victory offered an object lesson in the politics of economic hardship that has cost leaders in France, Spain, Britain and elsewhere their jobs. | For some Europeans, the victory offered an object lesson in the politics of economic hardship that has cost leaders in France, Spain, Britain and elsewhere their jobs. |
| “Obama has succeeded where Sarkozy, Zapatero and Brown failed — to be re-elected amid a major economic crisis,” deputy editor François Sergent wrote in a special edition of the leftist newspaper Libération in France. | “Obama has succeeded where Sarkozy, Zapatero and Brown failed — to be re-elected amid a major economic crisis,” deputy editor François Sergent wrote in a special edition of the leftist newspaper Libération in France. |
| The sense that Mr. Obama’s second term would be less constrained by electoral considerations offered analysts a rich theme. “For all the criticism of Obama, he now has the tail wind and the independence of not having to seek re-election,” said Claudia Schmucker, of the German Council on Foreign Relations. “He can use that for foreign policy, too.” | The sense that Mr. Obama’s second term would be less constrained by electoral considerations offered analysts a rich theme. “For all the criticism of Obama, he now has the tail wind and the independence of not having to seek re-election,” said Claudia Schmucker, of the German Council on Foreign Relations. “He can use that for foreign policy, too.” |
| But there was unease in Berlin that Mr. Obama’s focus on Asian issues, in particular the rise of China, had sapped transatlantic ties with Europe. “I hope he will not only be the Pacific president, but also the trans-Atlantic president,” Philipp Missfelder, a leading member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, said in an interview. | But there was unease in Berlin that Mr. Obama’s focus on Asian issues, in particular the rise of China, had sapped transatlantic ties with Europe. “I hope he will not only be the Pacific president, but also the trans-Atlantic president,” Philipp Missfelder, a leading member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, said in an interview. |
| Few analysts dwelt on the racial implications of Mr. Obama’s re-election. But in South Africa, whose prism is shaped by the decades of apartheid, Mathews Phosa, a senior member of the ruling African National Congress, said the outcome made Mr. Obama a potent symbol of the triumph of merit over race. “There is hope for the future if we all transcend racial patterns and look at people as people on their merits,” he said. | Few analysts dwelt on the racial implications of Mr. Obama’s re-election. But in South Africa, whose prism is shaped by the decades of apartheid, Mathews Phosa, a senior member of the ruling African National Congress, said the outcome made Mr. Obama a potent symbol of the triumph of merit over race. “There is hope for the future if we all transcend racial patterns and look at people as people on their merits,” he said. |
Reporting was contributed by Jane Perlez and Keith Bradsher in | Reporting was contributed by Jane Perlez and Keith Bradsher in Beijing; Hilda Wang in Hong Kong; Isabel Kershner and Jodi Rudoren in Jerusalem; Ellen Barry and Andrew Roth in Moscow; Sara Schonhardt in Jakarta, Indonesia; Scott Sayare in Paris; Dan Bilefsky in Barcelona, Spain; Tim Arango and Hwaida Saad in Antakya, Turkey; Sebnem Arsu in Istanbul; Sarah Lyall in London; Lydia Polgreen in Johannesburg; Nicholas Kulish and Chris Cottrell in Berlin; Jeffrey Gettleman in Nairobi, Kenya; Graham Bowley in Kabul, Afghanistan; and Salman Masood in Islamabad, Pakistan. |