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Vote Obama - Or Else
Vote for him or the kittens get it
They just can't help themselves. A day after EURSOC argued that the British didn't understand the US Presidential election, Jonathan Freedland warns Americans that if they don't vote for "the world's candidate", its "verdict will be harsh.
EURSOC will offer a prize to any reader who can think of a better way to energise the Republican base.
First things first. Freedland is partly right, at least in his claim that Barack Obama would be the preferred choice of pretty much every other nation in the world, had they any say in how Americans voted.
It's unfair to say that Obama is simply the candidate of the anti-American left: his charismatic appeal and enthusiastic media coverage have persuaded people outside the US that the Democrat represents a romantic idea of America that many yearn for. He evokes the JFK years, a certain American openness, an understanding of the outside world. Doubtless EURSOC readers in the States would take issue with this (and rest assured, your correspondent hasn't fallen for his charms) but that's how it is.
An opinion poll published by the BBC confirmed this, showing that the vast majority of voters in 22 nations polled preferred Obama over his rival, John McCain. While this isn't surprising, given the fawning media treated Obama has received, it shows something else. A lot of people out there want to fall in love with America again, and Obama is the man they believe will relight their fire.
"If the free world could choose its leader, it would be Barack Obama," writes Freedland.
In recent weeks, EURSOC has spotted Obama t-shirts on a pair of suburban racailles outside Paris; a shaggy-haired Italian student; and a street busker in London. It's difficult to imagine any other candidate inspiring this kind of affection overseas.
One can't dismiss all these people as America-haters: Indeed, if you really wanted to spread a poisonous creed of anti-Americanism, hoping for a McCain win would be natural.
Europe - again, aided by a compliant press, and also in the face of all the evidence - has decided that McCain is a warmongering far-right cowboy in the Bush Jnr mould. His choice of VP Sarah Palin, and her subsequent popularity with ordinary voters shows, they believe, that Americans are a gun-totin', bear-killin', wilderness-despoiling and God-fearin' bunch of lunatics. The fact that support for McCain among leaders on the international right has been lukewarm hasn't helped.
Again, we know this vision of McCain, Palin and Obama isn't true. You know it isn't true. It's just what the press and, by the looks of things, the public has decided.
But back to Freedland. "The world's verdict will be harsh if the US rejects the man it yearns for." Strong stuff.
He recites the reasons Obama is favoured over McCain: Iraq, international institutions, the environment. Voting for McCain, he says, amounts to America "turning its back on the world" for another four years.
It could provoke a "deeply unpleasant" response from abroad, he argues: "Suddenly Europeans and others will conclude that their dispute is with not only one ruling clique, but Americans themselves. For it will have been the American people, not the politicians, who will have passed up a once-in-a-generation chance for a fresh start - a fresh start the world is yearning for."
Unfortunately, he goes on to claim that race may be seen as a factor in Obama's failure. He's way off target here. EURSOC believes race doesn't come into it, and it is cynical and hypocritical of outside observers to argue this is the case. Obama hasn't won the Presidency yet, but as a man with a roughly 50-50 chance of doing so, he is much, much closer to the top job than any non-white has been in any decent-sized western country. Doubtless there are racists in America who loathe the idea of an Obama presidency, but they are vastly outnumbered by those who dread what effect the candidate's lack of experience, his liberal values and his vague promises will have on the US.
Race? Too easy, and a cheap shot. Call back when Britain, France or Germany are about to elect a Pakistani, Algerian or Turkish premier.
Freedland admits that if it isn't race, it could be "some other aspect of the culture wars." He's playing up an insignificant factor (race) and playing down something far more important - the struggle between different visions of America which he dismisses as "the culture wars", as if he's discussing children arguing over whether to watch The Sopranos or Finding Nemo.
But what if Americans do the unthinkable? What if, like a stripper completing a fan dance, America decides to disappear behind the curtains rather than give the audience what it wants? What if, given this epoch-defining choice between the world's plaudits and the world's contempt, they choose the path less taken?
"If Americans reject Obama, they will be sending the clearest possible message to the rest of us - and, make no mistake, we shall hear it," concludes Freedland.
Well. Americans might consider "they'll hate us whatever we do." They might say "thank you for your advice, but we need to choose the candidate we believe is best for America, not for the rest of you." They might even conclude that Barack Obama is the best man for the job.
They might argue that, had critical Europeans looked closer at McCain, they would have discovered that he is hardly the Bush Reloaded his critics have painted him as, and that a McCain Presidency is only likely to be confrontational if America's enemies make it so.
But the likelihood of any American responding to threats from Guardian journalists claiming to represent The Rest Of The World is about the same as Sarah Palin coming first in a plait-your-own-armpit-hair competition organised by Hackney Women's Collective.
