Community | October 26, 2008 | 20 comments

The U.N. rooting for Obama

source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/25/AR2008102502011_pf.html

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DeliaTheArtist
"There are no "Obama 2008" buttons, banners or T-shirts visible here at U.N. headquarters, but it might be difficult to find a sliver of territory in the United States more enthusiastic over the prospect of the Illinois senator winning the White House.

An informal survey of more than two dozen U.N. staff members and foreign delegates showed that the overwhelming majority would prefer that Sen. Barack Obama win the presidency, saying they think that the Democrat would usher in a new agenda of multilateralism after an era marked by Republican disdain for the world body.

Obama supporters hail from Russia, Canada, France, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Indonesia and elsewhere. One American employee here seemed puzzled that he was being asked whether Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was even a consideration. "Obama was and is unstoppable," the official said. "Please, God, let him win," he added.

"It would be hard to find anybody, I think, at the U.N. who would not believe that Obama would be a considerable improvement over any other alternative," said William H. Luers, executive director of the United Nations Association. "It's been a bad eight years, and there is a lot of bad feeling over it."

Conservatives who are skeptical of the United Nations said they are not surprised by the political tilt. "The fact is that most conservatives, most Republicans don't worship at the altar in New York, and I think that aggravates them more than anything else," said John R. Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "What they want is the bending of the knee, and they'll get it from an Obama administration."

The candidates have said little about their plans for the United Nations, but Obama has highlighted his desire to pursue diplomacy more assertively than the Bush administration, whereas McCain has called for the establishment of a league of democracies, which many here fear is code for sidelining the United Nations.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has avoided showing a public preference about the presidential campaign -- although he has hinted at a soft spot for Obama in private gatherings, according to U.N. officials. His top advisers say they think McCain and Obama would support many of Ban's priorities, including restraints on production of greenhouse gases that fuel climate change.

"The secretary general and the Secretariat of the United Nations take no position on the U.S. election," said Ban's chief spokeswoman, Michele Montas. "The secretary general deeply respects the democratic process, and he looks forward to working with whomever the American people choose."

Many U.N. rank and file are less circumspect, saying they see in Obama's multicultural background -- a Kenyan father, an Indonesian stepfather and a mother and grandparents from Kansas -- a reflection of themselves. "We do not consider him an African American," said Congo's U.N. ambassador, Atoki Ileka. "We consider him an African."

One U.N. official threw a party over the summer and asked guests to place stickers of either an elephant or a donkey on the front door to show their political preference. At the end of the night, the door was covered with about 30 donkeys and two elephants. "We found out that one of the Republicans was an American and the other couldn't vote," according to a U.N. official who attended. "So we convinced the American to vote for Obama."

"I have not heard a single person who will support McCain; if they do, they are in hiding," said another U.N. Obama booster from an African country. "The majority of people here believe in multilateralism," he said. "The Republicans were constantly questioning the relevance of the United Nations."

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20 comments // The U.N. rooting for Obama

  • pressrecord
  • rfregoso
    • 0
      rfregoso  

    • This is great not only do all the other countries want Obama to win but now the UN. This is amazing change that the United States have to make if we are to survive in this growing global problems.

    • 3 years ago
  • vladbox
    • 0
      vladbox  

    • GO VOTE DONT GET COMFORTABLE, SPECIALLY IN FLORIDA AND PENNSYLVANIA.

      I know there are some central floridians watching these boards, GO AND VOTE AND STOP WATCHING CHANNEL 9

      GO OBAMA

    • 3 years ago
  • caseygane
  • nazbags
  • bobhiggins
    • 0
      bobhiggins  

    • That the people of this country as well as their children and grandchildren will be supporting these plutocrats for decades is an outrage far beyond anything experienced by our "founding fathers" in their experience with George III.

      This bailout and the private and public institutional abuse that led to it should be a call to revolution for working Americans.

      In a rational, law abiding society these brokers, bankers, lobbyists and crooked "public servants" would be in jail or hanging in the nearest courthouse square.

    • 3 years ago
  • IMMININT
    • 0
      IMMININT  

    • This election is probably the most historic election in our time. This will mark the direction that the entire world will go in regardless of what president comes into office in 4 years.

      My vote is for change and moral. The "Good Ol' Boys" have to go.

    • 3 years ago
  • mookster_07
    • 0
      mookster_07  

    • I think Americans want socialism more than they want facism, which is the road we would be heading down full throttle if McCain and his chronies get into washington.

    • 3 years ago
  • bobhiggins
  • Liberal_Extinction
    • 0
      Liberal_Extinction  

    • Americans do NOT want socialism, those anti-Americans who do want it should pack their shit and make tracks for another socialist country. You people are nothing but a drain on productive society. Socialist tendancies and the entitlement mentality are spreading like cancer thanks to the far leftists that are taking over the democrat party. I hope the truly patriotic Americans will wake up before November 4th and realize the irreversible damage to this country by handing all 3 branches of the government to socialist democrats.

    • 3 years ago
  • bobhiggins
    • 0
      bobhiggins  
    • Liberal_Extinction:

      Ayn Rand is dead and will stay that way.
      The future will demand cooperation, coalition, diplomacy and mutual respect.

      Plutocrats,war mongers and "USA" chanting neanderthals will be left, with George Bush, on the brush pile of history.

      Join them if you feel that you must.

    • 3 years ago
  • metalcookiesxy70
    • 0
      metalcookiesxy70  

    • Its the world who wants him as president...they can only influence but so much, still, they cannot participate in the american politics, so they can only watch and stand to see what will be the outcome...

    • 3 years ago
  • DeliaTheArtist
    • 0
      DeliaTheArtist  

    • "The U.N. is a thoroughly anti-American" - What?

      Paratus, I don't understand how diplomacy is anti-American. There is more to America than our guns.

      Why all this talk of socialism? America is not going to turn into a socialist country, and all the fear mongering is ridiculous. We can certainly take lessons and good ideas from a variety of government systems.
      Our democracy is in dire need of repair as is our reputation on a global scale, that's why this story matters and why America needs Barack Obama.

    • 3 years ago
  • Paratus
    • 0
      Paratus  

    • Yet another reason, as if we needed more, not to vote for the messiah.
      The U.N. is a thoroughly anti-American, criminal organization.
      Beta Boy, socialism is not how the U.S. is supposed to operate. There is no provision in the Constitution for this type of thing. Now I realize that having no provision in the Constitution means nothing to most of the current crop of legislators but that is all the more reason to get rid of them. Individual freedom, not a nanny state, is what this country is supposed to be about.

    • 3 years ago
  • kyackr
  • daboz
    • 0
      daboz  

    • No surprise here, Senator Obama's Global Poverty Act of 2007 (S. 2433) will funnel 1 trillion dollars of your money to the UN.

    • 3 years ago
  • bobhiggins
    • 0
      bobhiggins  
    • daboz:

      "The U.N. is a thoroughly anti-American, criminal organization.
      Beta Boy."

      As opposed to the Republican party which is a thoroughly jingoistic pro American criminal organization who's titular head GW Bush, regards the US Constitution as "just a goddam piece of paper?"

      Bob Higgins
      http://worldwide-sawdust.com

    • 3 years ago
  • bobhiggins
    • 0
      bobhiggins  
    • daboz:

      Me too, far more proud than buying a summer yacht for some filthy rich hedge fund manager.

      I read recently that for a hundred bucks a year per person from the industrialized countries we could totally eliminate poverty and nearly eliminate all its attendent problems.

      We have the money, we just need the will to stop spreading it around in all the the wrong places.

    • 3 years ago
  • ProfessorFunk
    • 0
      ProfessorFunk  

    • It's no wonder. Don't the conservatives have the intention to one day dissolve the UN and create a League of Democracies, effectively putting them all out of their jobs?

    • 3 years ago
  • Beta_Boy
    • 0
      Beta_Boy  

    • But this can't be a surprise. Most of the world leans toward socialism and is inherently left wing. Socialised health care, pensions and benefits are all things that the rest of the world takes for granted and is something that we simply cannot understand why the US has never implemented.

    • 3 years ago
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