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Many aspects of the public image of U.S. President Barack Obama are unusual among American politicians, and stand in stark contrast to those of many of his former opponents.

During his candidacy for President, his international and biracial background was unprecedented and engendered questions of racial authenticity and religious affiliation. Obama's lack of experience on the national stage became a recurring theme used by former rivals Hillary Clinton and John McCain. His perceived combination of political savvy, calm and even temperament, and conservative support have all been credited with his ascendancy to the Presidential office.

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Obama won on a bed of hype despite the fact that there is no actual proof that he's a good politician, not that there is such a thing. Further more, just because you're a good orator does not make you a good anything else. America is going to go down in flames and he can't save us.

Around the world

All twenty two countries covered in a September 2008 BBC poll said they would prefer to see Senator Obama elected president ahead of Republican opponent John McCain. In 17 of the 22 nations, people expected relations between the United States and the rest of the world to improve if Senator Obama won. More than 22,000 people were questioned by pollster GlobeScan in countries ranging from Canada to India and across Africa, Europe and South America. The margin in favor of Senator Obama ranged from 9% in India to 82% in Kenya (location of Obama's paternal ancestry), while an average of 49% across the 22 countries preferred Senator Obama compared with 12% preferring Senator McCain. Some four in ten did not take a view.

A similar global poll was held by Reader's Digest, with respondents "overwhelmingly" in favor of Obama from all 17 countries, including Mexico, Finland, Indonesia, Britain and Spain. Russia gave Obama the lowest score among the countries polled, but still preferred Obama over McCain with a 35% margin. An Australian poll conducted in August 2008 found that over 75% of Australians want Obama to win the presidential election, while only 10% showed support for McCain.

Similar results were found in New Zealand (65% in favor of Obama, 11% in favor of McCain), Japan (49% in favor of Obama, 13% in favor of McCain), France (65% in favor of Obama, 8% in favor of McCain), Italy (70% in favor of Obama, 15% in favor of McCain), Germany (67% in favor of Obama, 6% in favor of McCain) and the Netherlands (90% in favor of Obama, 6% in favor of McCain). The only country surveyed (other than the U.S.) where McCain's popularity rivalled Obama's was Jordan, where 22% were in favor of Obama and 23% in favor of McCain. Obama scored higher approval ratings in all 70 countries covered in an October 2008 Gallup poll, with the most favorable scores coming from Asian and European countries.

In 2007 German journalist Christoph von Marschall wrote a book entitled Barack Obama - Der schwarze Kennedy. The literal translation of its German title is "Barack Obama. The Black Kennedy". His book was a best seller in Germany, where other commentators had also compared the two Americans.

In addition to this, Obama has established close relationships with prominent foreign politicians and elected officials even before his presidential candidacy, notably with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom he met in London in 2005, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who visited him in Washington in 2006 as France's Interior Minister, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who spoke with Obama by telephone from Washington D.C. in 2008 (while Obama was campaigning elsewhere), as well as with Italy's Democratic Party leader, and then Mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni, who was welcomed in Obama's Senate office in Washington in 2005 and later wrote the introduction to Obama's The Audacity of Hope Italian edition.

Depictions

The West Wing writer and producer Eli Attie based the character of Matt Santos (portrayed by Jimmy Smits) on Obama. At the time the politician was only a state senator. Obama later met Smits. Will Smith expressed interest in portraying Obama in a film, citing his physical resemblance – particularly their ears – to the President-elect, something which Obama concurred with while discussing the possibility with Smith.

Obama became a popular subject for artists during his presidential campaign. Shepard Fairey designed posters captioned "Hope", and he was commonly depicted as a superhero. Alex Ross painted a portrait of Obama as Superman, tearing open his suit to reveal a shirt with an 'O'-symbol, while in Entertainment Weekly he was depicted as Spider-Man opposite John McCain's Batman. The association of Obama with Superman was picked up by the media and by the candidate himself: at the 2008 Al Smith Dinner, Obama joked, "Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-El, to save the planet Earth." And The Washington Post titled two essays about the impact of Obama's election by Desmond Tutu and Ta-Nehisi Coates "The Man of Tomorrow", referencing a frequent sobriquet of Superman.

Marvel Comics released an special Inauguration Day comic of The Amazing Spider-Man with a picture portraying Barack Obama with Spider-Man hanging upside down behind him snapping his picture, quiping, "Hey, if you get to be on my cover, can I be on the dollar bill?" The comic also featuring a brief story where the Chameleon attempts to pose as Obama in order to be sworn in in his place, Obama subsequently shaking Spider-Man's hand in thanks and admitting that he's always been a fan despite the wall-crawler's negative public image. For copyright reasons, Marvel subsequently denied depictions of Obama as acting president in the Marvel Universe were intended to be him.

Similarities were drawn between Obama and Two-Face in the 2008 film The Dark Knight, released during Obama's campaign. The character, portrayed by Aaron Eckhart, and his time as the "white knight" district attorney – who provides hope in a demoralised city – is given major focus. Boris Johnson compared Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) in Quantum of Solace to Obama; the African-American CIA ally of James Bond is promoted to become Section Chief in South America over the previous corrupt agent.

See also

• "There's No One As Irish As Barack O'Bama"
• "Yes We Can"
• "I Got a Crush... on Obama"
• HOPE poster
• "Barack the Magic Negro"

References

1. "Obama Urges Renewed Alliance With Europe in Berlin Speech"
2. ^ World wants Obama as president: poll
3. "Obama 'wins' global polls", Gulf Daily News. Retrieved on October 8, 2008.
4. Knott, Matthew. "Aussies join world cheering for Obama", The Australian Online. Retrieved on October 8, 2008.
5. Hudson, Phillip. "Obama wins by a landslide - in Australia", The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2008-10-02
6. "NZers overwhelmingly support Obama for president", The National Business Review. Retrieved on 2008-10-02
7. Ito, Masami. "Poll: Voters favor Obama for U.S.", The Japan Times Online. Retrieved on 2008-10-02
8. Blaire, David. "Barack Obama beats John McCain in European vote: US election 2008", telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved on 2008-10-02
9. Yeh, Joseph. "Taiwanese favor Obama over McCain, poll shows", Taiwan News. Retrieved on 8 October 2008.
10. "The world loves Obama, except Jordan", Foreign Policy. Retrieved on 2008-10-02
11. "Rest of world prefers Obama over McCain for US president: poll", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2008. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
12. Barack Obama - The Black Kennedy?!
13. Germany’s Got a Crush on Obama, The Caucus: New York Times politics blog, January 6, 2008
14. "Obama to visit nuclear, biological weapons destruction facilities in former Soviet Union" - Senate.gov
15. "Sarkozy, Obama and McCain" - The Economist
16. "Obama Statement on the U.S. Visit of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd", Obama.senate.gov, 2008.
17. Rome Mayor's Leadership Bid May Lead to Early Italian Elections
18. VELTRONI A NEW YORK - Il politico prevale sull' amministratore
19. Libreria Rizzoli Galleria
20. Jonathan Freedland (2008-02-21). "From West Wing to the real thing". guardian.co.uk. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 2008-11-05.</
21. Jocelyn Vena (2008-12-09). "Will Smith Still Interested In Playing Barack Obama - If He's Not 'Too Old'". MTV.com. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
22. "Barack Obama: I want Will Smith to play me". New Zealand Herald. 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
23. Nisha Gopalan (2008-10-23). "The Many Superhero Faces of Barack Obama". io9. Gawker Media. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
24. Rhee, Foon (October 17, 2008). "Candidates get funny, really". The Boston Globe. Retrieved November 11, 2008. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |curly= ignored (help)
    Boucher, Geoff (October 17, 2008). "Everyday Hero Headlines". Los Angeles Times. "Hero Complex" blog. Retrieved November 11, 2008.
25. Tutu, Desmond (November 9, 2008). "The Man of Tomorrow". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 11, 2008. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |curly= ignored (help)
    Coates, Ta-Nehisi (November 9, 2008). "The Man of Tomorrow". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 11, 2008. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |curly= ignored (help)
26. Marvel Comics. "The Amazing Spider-Man Variant Edition". Marvel Comics. Retrieved 2009-1-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
27. Graeme McMillan (2009-02-01). "Marvel: This Is Not The President You Are Looking For". io9. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
28. Ry Rivard (2008-07-23). "Is Barack Obama Our Harvey Dent?". cnn.com.
29. Boris Johnson (2008-11-04). "US election: Like us, James Bond needed America's help to beat the bad guys". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-11-04.

External links

• Time Magazine: "The Five Faces of Barack Obama"
• Family biography of Obama from The Washington Post

• Barack Obama
• Public image of American politicians