San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

I notice on some US news TV stations they play up the "international celebrations" thing, but the truth is that the world is a very big place, and it is likely only a small percentage of people follow US elections. Obama's victory will be reported in national papers, but a lot of people won't really know who he is, or much about him. The fact that he has African American roots will attract attention, but not much else. There is a bit of a misperception in the US that the rest of the world is sitting in the same room, but this is a little removed from the reality.

However, you are right that Bush has put the US under the international spotlight, and blotted the proverbial copy-book somewhat. In direct contrast, Obama will be seen as a very moderate figure, who is much more fluent in world-speak. His tone and demeanor are less likely to inflame the ranks of anti-Americanism. Anyone listening to his closing speech last night, would have been struck by his conciliatory tones, realism, and understatement. Whether he lives up to the task in hand remains to be seen, but if his campaign is anything to go by, there's hope in my view.

Obama is probably the only dude who had a passport the same age as me. I was 3 weeks old.
My son was 5 weeks old.

This is not an indictment of his policies but I always found it really pathetic that W applied for his first passport after assuming office.

I kind of think that travel and experience should be a prerequisite to being the most powerful man on earth.

I know its not and perhaps that is elitist and snobby but being naive just grates on me so.

Stocks aren't so thrilled.

Moscow's Challenge to Obama
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0...
Is this a test or just a drill?

I just got back from a 2 week trip in Italy.. EVERYONE knew him. Talked about him, I talked people from France, Israel, Spain, Australia, they all knew of Obama, and all agreed that they all are hoping he gets elected, along with their peers. One australian lady said that she thinks the rest of the world will sigh a breath of relief if he gets elected, and that the rest of the world will look at us differently if he is.

When I was there, our election dominated their news coverage.. I couldn't believe how much they kept up with our elections

Not trying to say that how important it is for others to view us as an american, but during Bush's tenure, I feel that american people are not liked and I feel like an idiot because we picked him. Nothing humiliating, just my opinion!

That is a reminder from Moscow, and also a residual problem from the Bush administration (I already thought he's from the past).

I tend to agree that the world truly loves/respects Obama. I've been reading the European press (specially the Eastern one), daily, and the feedback is amaizing. The American emmbasies even went as far as having parties with fake/playfull elections to see who would win.....one TV channel has Obama with over 70% of the party votes.

The impact of the US presidency affects directly the new EU allies because of Russia's influence and change of direction. The TV news (Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania etc) starts with US news translated and followed as soon as they are released......the same holds true for newspapers.

I believe the world is ready for anything other than Bush, and even big ticket republicans acknowledge this idea vis-a-vis the US's international reputation (e.g. if you noticed Donald Trump's interview on Fox news last night......I'm not crazy about his ideas, but his Bush caracterization was dead on).

Moreover, when was the last time countries what we call extreme countries were actually celebrated the US president (e.g. Indonesia,)

However, the euphoria will soon end, and Obama has a tough road ahead. The markets already reflect the reality with 2 consecutive days deep in the red.....In conclusion, if anything positive came from this election is (1) US's image around the world is improving rapidly, and (2)based on the info I read, he is a super sharp president (we'll see the results of his action later).

Honestly, how can you blame the world. After we criminally invaded a country that was not threatening us and engulfed a whole region of the world in chaos and killed untold hundreds of thousands while doing this. Then for our coup de grace we blow up the entire worlds banking system and send like 30 countries to the brink of bankruptcy. I can't imagine why they would want somebody not aligned with Bush, whether or not you believe that to be true that is how the world sees it.

Will Obama reverse disastrous these policies. Economic wise he has no choice, there are no more bubbles to blow, the US consumer is dead and the world won't trust us for a long time. We will be lucky if the world lets us keep the dollar as reserve currency which I highly doubt. Civil liberty wise, he supports the suppression of them just as the Rs do. Foreign policy wise, Bush already did the dirty work and Obama has pledged to increasing the size of the military and continue our energy security policy under the guise of "war on terror". Bailouts, he supports the Bush policy. He even proposes a Reaganite tax structure, except with over 25% lower taxes on capital gains than Reagan. Whether or not he can stick to it is another issue with the mountain of practically unserviceable debt and nervous creditors is another story.

The only major difference between the two is packaging. IMO, It's a narrowly-packaged farce in which political twins pretend they are not joined at the hip on every public policy issue that has been allowed to enter the corporate media-vetted discourse: health care, Iraq, trade. Even these points of (non)contention disappear in the din of purely commercial marketing mantras with infinitely malleable meanings: "Change," "Hope," "Reform."

New world order indeed. Obama has been chosen to be the barer of bad news and without divine intervention will likely be despised at the end of four years. All the pretty speeches in the world won't mask the continuation of bad policy. Sorry Ds I have yet to see substance or positive change.

Damn thanks Arraya you make Obama not seem too bad at all. Sounds like Obama's not going to govern like a spoiled western european country.

Apparently the Poles liked McCain over Obama 3:1? Ahh I don't know I can't read Polish. Having a lot less years of freedom might make a guy in Poland a little more interested in a Strong America.

http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/1855915,477,it...

I disagree. I had reapeatedly good experiences with Europeans in Europe. The most obvious example was the two german guys who asked if they could buy us a beer, cause we were Americans. We spent the next two hours BSing and learning form each other while buying each other rounds. Then all 4 of us started hanging out with the girls at the next table over.
Or the time we were sitting in a bar in greece and the biggest Irish MOFO walked up and asked if we were drinkin tonight. Shaved head, trees for arms, a look that said he felt a bar fight was a good night. Turns out he wanted to drink with us, him, his buddy, and the 7 british girls with him. Next night it was Canadians/ ausies, then Swedees, and finally Norwegians. Turns out this Irish guy worked in Greece and we drank every day together. We drank the guy under the table (ahhhh 23 and a frat boy......) Anyways all three of us have a job in Greece if we ever want it. One of us has already taken him up on it.

The point is Europeans are amazingly able to seperate Americans from our political leadership. Everyone I have ever met likes Americans, even if they hate Bush's policies.

(Can I also say that there is nothing funnier than teaching girls to two step to trance music in a greek port at 4am after drinking an irish man under the table. I still cant believe I didnt end up in the water.)