Obama wins over hearts and minds in Europe

By Noah Barkin - Analysis

BERLIN (Reuters) - Barack Obama's presidential candidacy is winning over hearts and minds in Europe, where his race, youth and promise of change are raising hopes for an America the world can like again.

Obama's bid for the U.S. presidency suffered a setback on Tuesday when he failed to clinch the Democratic nomination, losing crucial contests in Ohio and Texas to rival Hillary Clinton.

But in Europe he has emerged as a favorite of the people and media, political analysts say, after a brief European infatuation with the better-known Clinton last year.

Influential German weekly magazine Der Spiegel put a picture of the Illinois Senator on its cover in February under the headline "The Messiah Factor - Barack Obama and the Yearning for a new America".

Inside, the magazine described Obama as a symbol of America's rejection of the George W. Bush era, a period linked in the minds of many Europeans to the Iraq war, Abu Ghraib prison scandal and go-it-alone U.S. diplomacy.

"Germans are in love with Obama," said Volker Perthes, head of the Berlin-based SWP foreign policy think tank. "His election would show America is capable of renewing itself, of self-correcting after the Bush years."

Karsten Voigt, coordinator for U.S. relations in the German Foreign Ministry, said Berlin could work well with Obama, Clinton and the Republican nominee John McCain -- a sentiment echoed in other European capitals.

But he drew a clear distinction between the view of government officials and those of the population, who he said wanted the clear change that Obama promises.

"There is an incredible desire in Germany to identify with the American president again," Voigt told Reuters. "Obama is fresh and new. He symbolizes an America that has overcome its racial divisions. People see that and don't care about the details."

"CLEAN BREAK"

America's image has been worsening. A 2007 survey of world opinion by the Pew Global Attitudes Project showed 66 percent of Germans, 60 percent of French and Spanish, and 42 percent of British had an unfavorable view of the United States.

Political analysts say Bush's departure alone is likely to lift these scores, regardless of who replaces him.

McCain, they say, is well known in Europe and seen as an honest, straight-shooter even if he is tarnished for some by his links to Bush and Iraq. Clinton is also a familiar face in European capitals after years as first lady.

But Obama, the only candidate who opposed the 2003 Iraq war from the start, is seen to embody the cleanest break from the past and that has fuelled his support in Europe.

Der Spiegel said his election would represent the "biggest possible U-turn" from the Bush years.