What Obama’s win means for Europe

Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. this week was decisive, but it would have been an absolute rout if Germany could vote, said Andrian Kreye in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany). More than 90 percent of Germans favored his re-election. Judging from TV ratings and Web hits, this country followed the U.S. election “as closely as if it were the first moon landing.” Nobody here would stay up all night to see whether German Chancellor Angela Merkel beats Peer Steinbrück next year, yet we could not go to bed until the Democrat hit the magic mark of 270 Electoral College votes. Why do we love Obama so? He hasn’t been a particular friend to Germany or to Europe, and on our political spectrum “he would occupy the most conservative wing” of a marginalized party, the Free Democrats. Part of the reason is our general love of America, rooted in nostalgia for the 20th-century superpower that defeated the Nazis and the Soviets and gave us jeans and rock ’n’ roll. But more specifically, Obama seems to have “brought to U.S. politics a European spirit of solidarity and compassion.”

Obama’s victory allows Europe “to heave a sigh of relief,” said Daniel Oliveira in Expresso (Portugal). For us, it wasn’t so important that Obama win, but rather that Romney lose. Were a Republican to return to the White House, the world would get another round of “unilateral interventionism, bellicose arrogance, utterly irresponsible foreign policy, and environmental hooliganism.” And a Romney win could have had an immediate negative effect here. European leaders—such as German Chancellor Merkel—who believe that “financial savagery” in the form of austerity is the solution to the economic crisis would have felt bolstered in their mistaken assumptions.

Obama will do more than counter that, said Georgios Malouchos in To Vima (Greece). He will save us all from Germany. The U.S. president alone can “prevent Europe from becoming a German colony” as Berlin shamelessly augments its power by exploiting the debt crisis. German-imposed budget cuts have not only caused suffering in Greece and other countries, but also put them at real risk of domination. “With his hands now free, Obama is probably not going to sit and watch Germany rake them all in.”

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Dream on, said Martin Ehl in Hospodarske Noviny (Czech Republic). Obama barely noticed Europe in his first term. He has reoriented U.S. foreign policy toward Asia, not only by moving troops there that were once positioned here, but also by refocusing his trade efforts to the East. Mired in our currency crisis and unable to agree on how to run our union, “Europeans don’t really have anything to offer Obama.” That’s why we should all expect him to be “even more skeptical and dismissive” of Europe on his second go-round.