A Sampling of World Reaction to the Beginning of the Obama Era

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A Sampling of World Reaction to the Beginning of the Obama Era
By Caitlin Webber, CQ Staff


World leaders and journalists greeted President Obama with some hesitancy, but mostly high hopes.

In Kenya, Obama’s ancestral homeland, there was celebration and hope for change.

“Kenyans and Africans at large hope Obama’s leadership will translate into more sensitivity in Washington’s policies for the continent.”

“In Nyanza’s Kogelo village, the rural home of his father Barack Obama Sr., two bulls have been slaughtered early Tuesday morning in anticipation of an overnight party after his inauguration.”

Human rights activist Okiyah Omtath Okoiti wrote Tuesday, “With President Obama, it is expected that it will no longer be the arrogant selfishness of ‘‘if you are not on our side you are against us’’; it will be that now, together, we can win for everybody.”

In South Africa, Nelson Mandela compared the inauguration to the end of apartheid in that country in 1994.

“Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela hailed Barack Obama as a ‘new voice of hope’ for the world on Tuesday and compared his inauguration as U.S. president to South Africa’s historic transition to democracy. ‘We are in some ways reminded today of the excitement and enthusiasm in our own country at the time of our transition to democracy,’”

Down under, some Australians stayed up late to witness history.

“There may be a few bleary-eyed workers around on Wednesday morning as eager Australians set their alarm clocks to watch the overnight inauguration of Barack Obama . . . Mr. {President Kevin} Rudd, who is expected to visit Washington early this year, said he was looking forward to working with the president-elect on future challenges and “it begins by working together on the global financial crisis,’...”

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