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11/7/12

Europe welcomes Obama win, but with less enthusiasm than in 2008 - by Eric Reguly

Four years ago, Europe was ecstatic about the end of the era of George W. Bush, whom they blamed for the financial crisis and two highly unpopular wars, and the election of a young president who represented change and hope and possibly a more productive transatlantic relationship.

On Wednesday morning, Europe was decidedly less enthusiastic about Mr. Obama’s re-election, but certainly happier than the alternative. Mitt Romney failed to make a good impression on his European visit in August.

They considered Mr. Romney more trigger-happy than his rival and his apparently wholesale support for Israel did not go over well in a continent that puts the Middle East in its own neighbourhood. Some countries, like Spain, that are suffering from recessions made worse by grinding austerity measures were also philosophically opposed to a candidate who pushed hard for government spending cuts.

The Guardian newspaper, in Britain, did not consider Mr. Obama’s victory in a long, nasty campaign a reward for achievement. “In the end Mr Obama owes his second term more to his vast campaign war chest and the ruthless professionalism of his get-out-the-vote machine than he did the first time around, when hope and idealism did more to carry him to the White House.”
In France, Le Monde was tempered its support and praise for Mr. Obama. It called him “not always brilliant, but solid.”

In Italy, Rome’s Il Messaggero newspaper professed some surprise that Mr. Obama was re-elected, given the tepid economic revival and the still-high (though declining) jobless rate. In a comment piece, Riccardo de Palo said that “Only Franklin Delano Roosevelt succeeded in the feat of getting re-election against a backdrop of such a unfavourable economy,” adding that Mr. Obama’s second term will be no picnic for man who is “less charismatic, but more mature, less naive.”

Read more: Europe welcomes Obama win, but with less enthusiasm than in 2008 - The Globe and Mail

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