Today's Wall Street Journal carries an interesting summary of how the world's regions seem to feel about Hillary, Obama and McCain. That Barack Obama would be popular in Africa, Indonesia and the Mideast is perhaps no surprise. But he also appears to be quite popular in Europe, where I’m writing from this week. On the other hand, in Italy, my informal sampling of opinion showed that Hillary had her supporters as well — including among men. One told me he preferred her over Obama because “she has more scars” — more experience.
So far, despite his travels, John McCain doesn't seem to have captured the popular imagination abroad. With the Republican contest now ended, McCain gets less coverage in the United States and, correspondingly, less coverage abroad. In Southeast Europe, Clinton's admission that she exaggerated the danger she faced when she visited Bosnia in 1996, provoked unflattering news stories. The occasional story about John McCain's shortcomings does not resonate much overseas. Perhaps this is because the U.S. media's coverage is generally positive (see Neal Gabler's piece in the NYT). For whatever reason, John McCain is more a cipher to the public — at least here in Europe.