and immune to the swooning America has displayed over him.

This report states many have concerns about his inexperience and think his persona in America may well be overblown.

This report states they are ambivelent and concerned about his inexperience mainly.

<link>

From your link -

"But a survey released by the Pew Research Center last week showed Germans vastly prefer Obama over John McCain, his Republican challenger for the presidency, by a 49 point margin. In France it is an even wider 51 point margin and in Britain 30..."

LOL

Georgie-Porgie has poisoned the well for several decades of American presidents

obama is playing like he is already the president

and , of course, the msm goes right along with him

this trip is NOTHING but a gigantic photo op for obama's political purposes

plain and simple

nothing different , nothing hopeful and certainly NOT a change from politics as usual

Polls also say that 75 percent of the people would prefer to have their hair pulled over having their eye poked. 99 percent say they would really not want their hair pulled.

Point being that just because they prefer Obama, does not mean they actually want him,

While the people of Europe are wildly crazy about the new presumptive president (let's face it, McCain is already toast, he is just too old) the leaders are doing what they did with Clinton - taking a wait and see attitude, which is also what the leaders of Europe did with Kennedy.

This is interesting because Clinton is considered a world hero in Europe, having brought peace in both Ireland and the Balkans. And Kennedy, well, we all know how the Europeans feel about Kennedy.

The comparisons between Kennedy, Clinton and Obama are uncanny. Thanks for pointing out the good news.

Your subject line was a little fuzzy though, it almost sounded anti Obama.

Work on that. Your glass half empty attitude makes it sound like you have some emotional issues.....

Ahhh Europe is way overblown. I always suspected they were a useless culture even before WWII, now I'm sure of it. Most of them don't even have a military anymore unless you call 3 helmeted guys with sparklers riding in a hybrid the military. The euros are pathetically weak. They always have been. Had it not been for the USA they'd all be speaking German now,...or Russian. Iran is their problem. Time to muster the sparkler brigade and go straighten his ass out. His missiles don't have the range for America but he can probably hit europe....somewhere.

The polls are proving him correct....

....that they do actually like their hair pulled!

oh yeah

that SINGLE digit lead obama has over mccain is HUGE.....NOT

so NO the polls DONT prove him correct

Why so harsh in your judgment of Obama? Sounds like you are the one who has idolized the Barack from Illinois, not the Obama supporters.

Of course the overseas trips of Obama have a political purpose. What the hell do you expect? He's running against a guy who seems to claim the White House as his because he spent 5 years as a POW during the Vietnam War. Obama has to meet people, ask questions, gather information, and establish contacts with people he may have to deal with IF he gets elected. And yes, there will be photo ops and interviews and the like, all designed to deflate some of McCain's arguments that he's unfit to lead this country.

Would it please you more if he went over there on a bicycle, carried beads and grew a beard and met with Hindu swamis?

I am an Independent, after being a Democrat most of my life. I'd really like to see a vibrant third or fourth party in this country. I've voted for third-party candidates before and may do so again. But let me tell you this: when I was a kid (eons ago) the Republican Party was known as the party of the Rich and Big Business. Under George W. Bush, this has been a bald-faced reality, utterly shameless, but in addition, the Republican Party is now wedded to the clueless airheads of the extreme Religious Right. These are things that definitely preclude me from voting for John McCain this year, especially since JM seems unashamed to follow in the footsteps of old "Rob the Working Man and Give to the Rich" Dubya Dolittle.

That said, what choices do we have? While I agree with much of what Ralph Nader says, I know, as well as he does, that he doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning the election. So, I must choose between Bush-Revisited McCain or Big Ears Obama. So I guess I'll vote for Obama, since his policy positions are much closer to mine than JM's are. Besides, his election seems to be favored by the young in our country, and by millions of people abroad, and he seems to be the kind of guy who will want to have around him advisers who will tell him the truth and not just what he wants to hear.

The bottom line is this: I'm an old white guy myself, and a veteran, and would, if McCain supported Obama's "leftist" views, be inclined to vote for JM. But he doesn't hold the same views, and policy positions are VERY important to this lifetime voter. I don't give a rat's ass about looks or the spousal qualities or any of the hundreds of personality trifles most voters seem obsessed with. I want to know what THIS candidate is going to do for me and for the country. Giving tax privileges to the over-privileged isn't on my "to do" list, and neither is staying in Iraq for 100 years.

If you're pissed about Hillary not getting the votes, learn to deal with it. I supported Gene McCarthy in 1968, but backdoor deals at the convention gave the prize to Humphrey. I voted for the Democrat both times that Ronald Ray-gun campaigned. So I'm used to defeats of those I support. But sitting on the sidelines and taking pot-shots at Obama isn't going to help defeat Bush-III John McCain, and I think the last 7-8 years have been disastrous enough for the country that I feel we've "been there, done that," and don't need to revisit this shameful period of our country's history.

Five stars!

Your views and history seem similar to mine. By my age I should be a relative conservative but the Republicans have pushed the discussion so far to the right that I'm supposedly a flaming left wing liberal. So be it. I'm very happy that for the first time in my life I'm going to vote for a presidential candidate younger than me who makes me think of my now adult children who respect my advice but tell the old man from time to time that they can handle it and I maybe I should "just chill."

Heh! I know the feeling about adult children saying, "just chill." I have 2 grown sons and I'm no stranger to such remarks. My eldest son is also a veteran of the Army National Guard (who thankfully got out before this chicken-hawk president got to the White House) and he's both pleased and surprised that I support Obama.

I've had people from outside the US who are visiting here virtually implore me to support Obama.

Like many Americans, most of the world is not fooled by any notion that a McCain presidency wouldn't be a continuation of the disasterous bluster and blunder foreign policy that the neo cons behind Bush have pursued.

This is partly because news coverage is far more substantive and nuanced than it generally is in the US,and most Europeans know who is in McCain's foreign policy team and their past association, whereas the US media rarely goes into such detail.

The world knows that the same radicals who brought you the Iraq war in the first place are hiding in McCain's shadow, and it scares them, far more that McCain's "bomb, bomb, bomb....bomb, bomb, Iran" bluster does.

The world was looking for leadership from the US after 9/11.

They didn't get it, and neither did we.

Of course, most of the world was disgusted that Bush got returned as well.