Europe cool on Obama after high hopes fade

BRUSSELS: Europeans enthusiastically welcomed President Barack Obama’s 2008 election victory but the ‘Yes we can’ glow has since faded, for all that opponent Mitt Romney is still viewed cautiously.

Analysts say expectations were huge -- perhaps unrealistic -- at the start of his term, with the election of the first African-American president seen as potentially a new starting point amid a disastrous global financial crisis.

“There is some disappointment in Europe ... but I think it has more to do with Europe’s wild expectations on Obama rather than Obama’s actual record,” said Fredrik Erixon at the European Centre for International Political Economy.

“Expectations were probably too high,” noted Amine Ait-Chaalal, professor of international relations at Louvain university.

“There were hopes that Obama would mark a decisive break with the policies of (predecessor George W.) Bush but, in the name of continuity ... in the national interest, such a break was never really likely,” Ait-Chaalal said.

This disenchantment with the president appears widespread but concerns over the hardline policies of Romney cause some unease and mean Obama is still generally favoured, if only as the least bad option.

“I would argue that for most Germans, Obama is still the favourite candidate,” said Dr. Ulrike Guerot, the German representative and senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Guerot said that for many Europeans, some of the positions taken by the Republicans, for example on abortion, were unsettling.

“Many observe the evolution of the Republican party here with strong reservations,” she said, adding however that opinion in Germany was receptive to their arguments on tighter controls over government spending.

Erixon noted that for many leaders, especially in Germany and the Nordic countries, “Obama has been too weak on reining in fiscal deficits and they have been visibly annoyed with Obama’s interference in the eurozone debt crisis and (US Treasury Secretary) Tim Geithner’s lectures” on the way forward.

Analysts said the verdict on Obama’s mandate is mixed.

On the one hand, the president has tackled some of the worst irritants of the Bush era -- for example, winding down the Iraq war -- and taking on healthcare reform.

On the other, the US seems to have made little or no progress on major issues such as the Israel-Palestinian conflict and Iran while Obama’s ‘pivot’ towards Asia after years of neglect naturally ruffles European feathers.

The key issue however remains the economy, with the global financial crisis of 2008 morphing into the eurozone debt crisis, slowing growth and undercutting established leaders -- including possibly Obama himself.

Voters unhappy that the economic malaise seems to be only getting worse have given the boot to several leaders, from British prime minister Gordon Brown to Silvio Berlusconi of Italy and French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Against this backdrop, the US election -- which will be tight according to recent opinion polls -- offers Europe little prospect of another fresh start, four years after Obama’s promise of change galvanised Europe, with hundreds of thousands turning out in Berlin and elsewhere during an exceptional overseas campaign tour.

Erixon said there were no such high hopes for a second term.

“The (main) story is that America’s relative economic decline will continue -- as will Europe’s -- and that it will be a less powerful force in global economic policy.”