# Will there be massive public celebrations worldwide if Obama wins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 29, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027 "2008-10-29T01:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ducktail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/43a26b/32.png) [@Ducktail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ducktail)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/41 "2008-10-29T13:21:06Z")
I’d say yeah, things will be pretty celebratory here in Germany, considering the level of attention being payed. I don’t know if there will be literal parties in the street, but everyone I know will be pretty happy. People went nuts in my neck of the woods a few weeks ago when it was made known that Obama had some ancestors from Alsace who immigrated to the US several years ago. The level of pride people took in that blew me away. First of all, I’m in southern Germany, on the other end of the country from Alsace. Second of all, Alsace, doesn’t even belong to Germany anymore, it belongs to France, it’s never been entirely clear who it belonged to in the first place, and the reasons why it belongs to France right now and not Germany (namely, World Wars I and II) are part of a period of history the average German sort of doesn’t like to associate themselves with too much. So taking all that into account, it made the top of the politics page in the local paper here that Obama was descended from people who, hundreds of years ago, lived in a part of Europe that has occasionally been in German hands. And everyone went nuts. All the teachers at the school I attend and help out at clipped the article out of the paper and read it to their students. I commented on this to one of the teachers. “Seems like everyone in the world wants Obama to be part of them somehow,” I mention. “Yeah,” she sighed. “I wish we really did have someone like him.” (Do note that she said someone _like_ him–it’s not as though anyone is wishing that an Obama-led US would just sweep in and take things over.) But my point is, it seems like a lot of people around the world want to view as Obama as being from them, somehow, or part of them. America has been touted for so long as being a place that anyone can call home, no matter where they come from. The rest of the world is watching to see if that can apply to leaders, too. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/42 "2008-10-29T13:23:25Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > America through it’s Ambassador basically told Ireland there would be real financial consequences if we don’t allow troops etc. through Shannon airport. We are meant to be neutral but buckled. That’s just a small example. The Bush administration did an awful lot of arm-twisting in the run-up to the Iraq War. Countries like France who said no to joining the coalition were hit economically and diplomatically. Countries like the UK who said yes were badly used (often against the will of their own populations). America lost an enormous amount of international goodwill through such tactics. I think that, just as there are people who want to hate America, there are a lot of people who want to like it. The Bush administration has made America very hard to like over the past seven-plus years, and we’re not seeing much from McCain that looks like change in that particular arena. ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/43 "2008-10-29T13:39:31Z")
Well, I’m Australian and a few friends and I are having ourselves an U.S election night party that will will be either a commiseration McCain-won party or a celebration Obama-won party. We’ve just decided today (purely for the hell of it) to ‘Americanise’ the proceedings a bit and we went and got ourselves some U.S flags to stick around the place and have already begun sorting out the M&Ms so that we will just have a big bowl of red, white and blue ones. We will be drinking Coke and are yet to decide whether to have McDonalds or KFC for dinner. Also, one of my friends has made a (probably empty) promise to dress up as Uncle Sam. (Yes, we are stereotyping it up a little bit. Please understand we mean it affectionately 😉 ). I was actually pondering whether to start a thread about it and ask for further suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![firstname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@firstname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firstname)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/44 "2008-10-29T13:49:20Z")
Public celebrations might be a bit over the top, but the feeling I get is that the majority of Australians support Obama. In fact I’d venture that quite a few Australians would only be able to name Obama and not McCain if asked about the presidential election. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/45 "2008-10-29T13:58:40Z")
Slight Hijack: On NPR this morning there were several global bloggers from Australia to Germany, to Dakar to Japan - all of them mentioned Obama as being the favored. The most intertesting result was that they say Obama is more in tuned with diplomacy. As an American I find this fascinating that we could actually elect a president that would help unite and not divide more people across the globe. This I will dance in my eat for on November 5th when he wins. ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/46 "2008-10-29T14:09:02Z")
> [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](#): > > Well, I’m Australian and a few friends and I are having ourselves an U.S election night party that will will be either a commiseration McCain-won party or a celebration Obama-won party. > > We’ve just decided today (purely for the hell of it) to ‘Americanise’ the proceedings a bit and we went and got ourselves some U.S flags to stick around the place and have already begun sorting out the M&Ms so that we will just have a big bowl of red, white and blue ones. We will be drinking Coke and are yet to decide whether to have McDonalds or KFC for dinner. Also, one of my friends has made a (probably empty) promise to dress up as Uncle Sam. > > (Yes, we are stereotyping it up a little bit. Please understand we mean it affectionately 😉 ). > I was actually pondering whether to start a thread about it and ask for further suggestions. **List of mistakes/corrections:** [ul] [li]an = a[/li][li]will will = will[/li][li]missed the edit window[/li][/ul] Slow clap for Buckler. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/47 "2008-10-29T14:23:59Z")
Dunno about “massive” (other than in some African cities, maybe?), but there will be a lot of happy people overseas among those who follow U.S. politics. It does seem that Obama is the prohibitive favorite among them. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/48 "2008-10-29T14:24:54Z")
These guys will be, literally, partying in the streets if Obama wins. 🙂 > [@](#): > > **Japanese town of Obama ready to party for US election** > > 11 hours ago > > OBAMA, Japan (AFP) — It may not quite be the party planned by Barack Obama’s home city of Chicago, but a Japanese town named Obama is pulling out the stops in the hope its adopted son will win the White House next week. > > \ > > Banners with Obama 's picture hang on lampposts across the town, where a statue of the senator clad in a Stars and Stripes necktie and a Japanese-style headband that says “I love Obama” now greets residents and visitors. > > \ > > Some 50 Obama residents are honing their skills in hula dancing, hoping to put on an Election Day show in tribute to Obama’s original home of Hawaii. The “Obama girls” even travelled to Honolulu to take part in a competition. > > SOURCE: [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6MXUVP6pVeWlctj7Fq0wJ4E2DAg](http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6MXUVP6pVeWlctj7Fq0wJ4E2DAg) ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/49 "2008-10-29T14:28:43Z")
I assume so. Much of the rest of the world looks upon Obama as someone who will consider their interests too. What’s lost upon them is the fact that an American President is duty bound to govern in the interests of the US and to put his own country’s interests first. They’ll learn. ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/50 "2008-10-29T14:32:14Z")
> [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](#): > > Well, I’m Australian and a few friends and I are having ourselves an U.S election night party that will will be either a commiseration McCain-won party or a celebration Obama-won party… > > have already begun sorting out the M&Ms so that we will just have a big bowl of red, white and blue ones. Ha, I love your party idea! But I have a question: there are _white_ M&M’s?? I’ve never seen such a thing. Is it a special designer color or something? ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/51 "2008-10-29T14:33:36Z")
While I’m sure much of the world will be happy if Obama wins (because the Republican idea of foreign policy is to act like the schoolyard bully), I don’t think there’ll be all that much real celebrating. The rest of the world cares, but not _that_ much. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/52 "2008-10-29T14:35:50Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > And if they don’t dance, well…they’re no friends of mine. This was totally underappreciated. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/53 "2008-10-29T14:37:05Z")
I should note (and I have no cite…my mom told me she read it somewhere so take it FWIW) that in Japan interest in the US election is higher than in the US itself. Certainly worldwide interest in this election is VERY high. While people may not bust out in the streets dancing around the world you can be sure they will be watching. > [@](#): > > When Cassie Leventhal walked out of Charles de Gaulle Airport to start her year in Paris, the cab driver first asked her where she was going and then, “Obama où McCain?” > > “Once they know you are American, the only issue of concern becomes the election and the reasoning behind your choice,” said Leventhal, a Northeastern University junior. > > On the other side of the globe in Australia, Aviva Gat, a Boston University junior, was similarly quizzed. > > “Every time someone heard my accent they immediately asked me what I thought about Obama, everyone from shop owners to waiters to taxi drivers,” said Gat. > > \ > > It’s clear that no college students should head overseas these days without an eighth-grade US civics textbook in their backpack. The world is fervently following the US election process, and foreigners expect US students to understand and explain it. > > Ashley Saliba, a University of New Hampshire junior in India, said she never expected to be reading about debates and the election every day in the newspaper in Hyderabad. > > \ > > “I’ve lost count of how many conversations revolved around why I should vote for Obama or how Sarah Palin is the most bizarre VP choice,” said Danielle Ryan, a BU junior studying in London. > > SOURCE: [http://www.boston.com/travel/articles/2008/10/26/election\_08\_the\_world\_weighs\_in/](http://www.boston.com/travel/articles/2008/10/26/election_08_the_world_weighs_in/) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/54 "2008-10-29T14:51:11Z")
> [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](#): > > Well, I’m Australian and a few friends and I are having ourselves an U.S election night party that will will be either a commiseration McCain-won party or a celebration Obama-won party. > > We’ve just decided today (purely for the hell of it) to ‘Americanise’ the proceedings a bit and we went and got ourselves some U.S flags to stick around the place and have already begun sorting out the M&Ms so that we will just have a big bowl of red, white and blue ones. We will be drinking Coke and are yet to decide whether to have McDonalds or KFC for dinner. Also, one of my friends has made a (probably empty) promise to dress up as Uncle Sam. > > (Yes, we are stereotyping it up a little bit. Please understand we mean it affectionately 😉 ). > I was actually pondering whether to start a thread about it and ask for further suggestions. I, too, would like to hear more about these white M&Ms. Perhaps you should have half white, half black M&Ms to celebrate Obama’s mixed heritage. ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/55 "2008-10-29T14:54:02Z")
> [@3acresandatruck](#): > > Ha, I love your party idea! But I have a question: there are _white_ M&M’s?? I’ve never seen such a thing. Is it a special designer color or something? We’re cheating a little on that one. Here, at least, you can get packs of mint flavoured M&Ms that consist only of green and white ones. We’ll mix them in with the regular ones. YUM! Thankfully, all of my friends enjoy mint flavoured candy. [QUOTE=Biggirl] Perhaps you should have half white, half black M&Ms to celebrate Obama’s mixed heritage. [/QUOTE] Ooooh! Fancy! ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/56 "2008-10-29T14:56:10Z")
We will be pleased. But no-one will dance on the streets. I can understand why you might think that we would, given that 100,000 people in Ireland alone took to the streets against your war. But, tbh at this point it’s more of a curiousity, and a conversation point than anything else. We aren’t huddled around the TV, ready to jump up and down if one or the other wins. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/57 "2008-10-29T15:02:21Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > I assume so. Much of the rest of the world looks upon Obama as someone who will consider their interests too. What’s lost upon them is the fact that an American President is duty bound to govern in the interests of the US and to put his own country’s interests first. > > They’ll learn. How is that a contradiction? ---
**Author:** ![Sinaijon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Sinaijon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaijon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/58 "2008-10-29T15:13:09Z")
> [@tschild](#): > > How is that a contradiction? Just wait til Obama and Congress start slapping a bunch of protectionist tariffs on everything. Remember how evil Bush did that with steel and white wine? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/59 "2008-10-29T15:22:54Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > Just wait til Obama and Congress start slapping a bunch of protectionist tariffs on everything. Remember how evil Bush did that with steel and white wine? I seriously doubt he will. Remember he is more a product of the [Chicago school of economic theory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_School_of_Economics) than anything else. Democrats often spout populist rhetoric that appeals to unions and such but have rarely followed up on them (note Republicans do the same thing to their base…politics as usual). > [@](#): > > Barack Obama is unlikely to convert his protectionist rhetoric into concrete policies if he wins US presidential elections on 4 November, John Glenn of the German Marshall Fund told EurActiv in an interview. > > “It would be a mistake to see him [Obama] as a traditional Democrat who is simply driven by the trade unions,” Glenn said, dismissing Obama’s comments about renegotiating NAFTA, the North American free trade pact with Canada and Mexico, as election talk aimed at warming the Democratic soul. > > He points out that Democratic presidential candidates in the US have a long tradition of speaking out in favour of more protectionism, but it was in fact Democrat Bill Clinton who in 1993 signed NAFTA during his first year in office. > > SOURCE: [http://www.euractiv.com/en/opinion/interview-obama-protectionism-mere-election-talk/article-176719](http://www.euractiv.com/en/opinion/interview-obama-protectionism-mere-election-talk/article-176719) ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027/60 "2008-10-29T15:40:49Z")
Well, my guess is that there will be some celebrations, but by and large they will be pretty limited, population wise, to those who most follow US politics abroad (for whatever reason). By and large I predict the majority of non-US folks will either not care or be only marginally interested. I predict that in my home town in Mexico there won’t exactly be dancing in the (dirt) streets when they learn (a week later) that Obama has won. I DO predict that at the XT extended family estates (a.k.a. Nana’s House) there will be much rejoicing, especially after they eat the minstrel… -XT [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-massive-public-celebrations-worldwide-if-obama-wins/470027.md?page=4)