Obama's sagging global popularity: 4 theories
When he first took office, President Obama was a rock star overseas. Now those days are gone. Here, a dissection of his fall from grace
Back in July 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama "confirmed his rock-star status" by delivering a globally-hyped speech to more than 200,000 adoring, even weeping Europeans in Berlin. Fast-forward four years, and President Obama's once sky-high popularity abroad has dropped — sharply in some countries, according to a new Pew Research Center poll. Confidence in Obama declined by 6 percent in Europe from 2009 to 2012, and 9 percent in Muslim nations. It fell by 13 percent in Mexico, and 24 percent in China. Approval of Obama's international policies dipped even more. What is it about Obama that's turning off the world? Here, four theories:
1. Obama is alienating foreigners with his drone strikes
Surprise, surprise: People get miffed when you send "flying robots of death" to fire missiles at them, says Will Bunch at the Philadelphia Daily News. Drone strikes against suspected Islamist terrorist leaders in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia are widely unpopular in Muslim countries. Not only that, but a survey of 20 countries shows that majorities in 17 disapprove of the way Obama has ramped up the attacks since the Bush years. "One of the rationales for electing Barack Obama in 2008 was that he would restore America's tarnished image in the rest of the world." Live and learn.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
2. He's not the multilateral anti-cowboy the world expected
Obama's fans overseas were so "glad to be rid of his uncivilized cowboy of a predecessor," says Erika Johnsen at Hot Air, that they threw a Nobel peace prize at Obama before he'd even done anything. "Obama was supposed to stop America from supposedly taking the reins and acting like, heaven forbid, a superpower." But his drone strikes, his infamous "kill list" and "other perceived unilateral actions" have soured the love Europeans and others "once harbored for the broken-promises president." Well, "in retrospect, hopes for an Obama presidency were unrealistically high," says Bruce Stokes at Germany's Spiegel Online. America's "wunderkind" really had nowhere to go but down.
3. Obama hasn't delivered on climate change
Many people around the world are voicing disappointment with Obama's handling of climate change, says Stokes. When Obama was elected, three-quarters of Germans expected him to "get the U.S. to take significant measures to control global climate change." Only a quarter of them think he has delivered. And the French, who had even higher expectations, are even more disillusioned.
4. The lousy economy is staining Obama's image
Obama's international slide coincided with a dimming view of America's economic might, says Howard LaFranchi in The Christian Science Monitor. "Today, often by significant majorities, respondents in survey countries say the U.S. has lost its status as the world's leading economic power to China." If people overseas believed that Obama had put the global economy back on track, his "rock star" status might still be intact. But don't forget: Obama is still more popular overseas than at home, and he scores way higher than George W. Bush did. And despite unmet expectations, large majorities overseas still want to see Obama re-elected.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - May 5, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - annoying noises, gag orders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 highly educational cartoons about student protests
Cartoons Artists take on apolitical camping, the National Guard, and more
By The Week US Published
-
French schools and the scourge of teenage violence
Talking Point Gabriel Attal announces 'bold' intervention to tackle rise in violent incidents
By The Week UK Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published