Europe's morning newspapers generally came out before Iowa's results were complete, so it is with Friday's evening TV newscasts that Europeans first saw the smiling Obama family savoring victory. It's probably safe to say that - apart from some racist right wing nuts in Europe's fringe parties - Europeans in general would welcome a Democrat in the White House, and especially a Democrat with the CV of Senator Barack Obama.
Though it is still very early days, I have not seen a single continental European comment - negative or positive - about the recent Beltway "scandal" over Obama's neglect of the Old Continent in his Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs. Not one (though the Times of London Washington correspondent did report on the intra-Washington controversy). On the other hand, I expect to see lots of favorable comment about racial barriers being overcome (though some may remember that Jesse Jackson won several primaries in '84 and '88 - and went exactly nowhere politically thereafter).
Obama's softly softly approach - "I will talk to ______[insert name of rogue state leader] in my first week of Presidency" - should appeal to Europeans weary of (and frightened by) eight years of Bush unilateralism. Bill Clinton still attracts favorable comment and the mere sight of him makes Europeans (and many Americans) pine for the old pre-September 11, pre-Iraq world, when the dollar was strong, the US respected, and the world still in a post-Cold War era of relative peace. Hillary Clinton would be able to capitalize on that nostalgia, but her stance on Iraq might alienate some Europeans, who thought it was a very bad idea way before Hillary started to waver on her initial support for Bush.
And then there is the Clinton entourage. Last night in Iowa, standing behind Senator Clinton, was a Clinton One lineup of heavy hitters in the foreign policy world: Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Clark is still remembered for the NATO war in Kosovo, and that conflict's unfinished business may very soon be re-ignited when the Serbian province declares independence. Madeleine Albright, who called the United States "the indispensable nation," once dreamed of an American role in the European Union. Europeans might therefore welcome a clean slate with Obama, Subcommittee visits or not.
Meanwhile, Europeans don't know quite what to make of former Governor Huckabee, other than replaying the video of his guitar jam session. They have less trouble pronoucing "Barack Obama" than they do "Mike Huckabee." Clips of campaigners fervently praying with joined hands and closed eyes don't help here either - showing your religious beliefs is generally a no-no in European politics. Then again, seeing Chuck Norris smiling over Huckabee's shoulder could endear him to the European martial-arts-film crowd.