With Obama's Victory, Europe's Minorities Sense New Possibilities
CS MONITOR: A new discourse is emerging in France and Europe that urges a focus on ability – rather than on race or skin.

PARIS AND FRANKFURT - The election of Barack Obama may have revolutionized the world's view of America. But for Africans and Arabs in Europe, he is much more – a liberator figure whose success and social mobility will help them one day crack open the closed doors of European politics.

In Paris's black neighborhoods, in the barber shops, the African boutiques, the crowded bus stops, the groceries, President-elect Obama's election is felt deeply and personally – creating a sense that it is time to push for more.

"Obama has restored belief in the American dream," says Pap Ndiaye, who is with the School for the Advanced Study of the Social Sciences in Paris. "But his election also has a direct social effect in France, because the black youth think it is possible there [in the US] but not here.

"Obama puts the political system in France on the hot seat," he adds. "Structures that are closed are being looked at, and it is time for that."

Few Europeans believe it possible anytime soon for a minority to be elected to high office in their countries. The Obama example highlights a sharp contrast between the ideals and the reality of what a young African or Arab in Europe can hope for as a participant in politics.

Obama's rise created a new discourse focused on ability here – rather than on race or skin as a rationale for change. >>> By Robert Marquand, Staff Writer | November 7, 2008

ISLAM ONLINE: US Muslims See Hope in Obama

WASHINGTON — The majority of American Muslims is believed to have voted for Barak Obama as the new president.

IslamOnline.net has interviewed several Muslims, including community leaders, on what issues should top the agenda of President Obama and the domestic and international implications of his election.

Ibrahim Ramey, Director of Muslims American Society, Virginia

Barack Obama was my first choice and the first choice of 90 percent of Muslims living in the US.

We supported him because he is an agent of change.

It is a major opportunity for American Muslims to advance themselves for equal opportunities under the law.

Muslim should capitalize on this opportunity and should now better organize themselves to get their voices heard and recognized.

Obama will help do away with the negative image of Muslims inside the US and in the whole world.

Obama will help resolve the lingering conflicts of Palestine and Afghanistan and will soon end the Iraq war.

He will create economic growth and stability in the US and will restore the country’s security and confidence. >>> By Mukhtar A. Khan, IOL Correspondent | November 6, 2008

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Melanie Phillips: Freedom Now Stands Alone
THE SPECTATOR: So the answer to my question turned out to be yes, America really was going to do this. A historic moment indeed. The hyperbole for once is not exaggerated: this is a watershed election which changes the fate of the world. The fear however is that the world now becomes very much less safe for all of us as a result. Those of us who have looked on appalled during this most frightening of presidential elections – at the suspension of reason and its replacement by thuggery -- can only hope that the way this man governs will be very different from the profile provided by his influences, associations and record to date. It’s a faint hope – the enemies of America, freedom and the west will certainly be rejoicing today.

America has voted for change, apparently. Change from what, precisely? From Bush? But in the second term, Bush stopped being Bush. His foreign policy lurched from paralysis to appeasement (redeemed only by the strategic genius of Gen Petraeus – and what price Petraeus now?) As Frank Gaffney wrote in the Washington Times yesterday, Bush’s Treasury is about to open the way for sharia law to be imposed upon America’s banking system. And it was a Democrat-controlled Congress that helped provoke the sub-prime lending crisis that triggered the current financial meltdown.

What this election tells us is that America voted for change because America is in the process of changing – not just demographically by becoming less white and more diverse, but as the result of a culture war in which western civilisation is losing out to a far-left agenda which has become mainstream, teaching American children to despise the founding values of their country and hijacking discourse by the minority power-grab of victim-culture.

The reaction of conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic to this undoubted change – not just in the US but in Britain too – shows the intellectual disarray caused by these profound developments. They say politicians must stop trying to hold the cultural line and go instead with the flow of change. In Britain, the Tory party has adopted this strategy. Now there are Republicans saying the same thing.

But John McCain is a Republican who does not fit the old template, who does subscribe to some of this ‘change’ agenda on a number of issues. As a result, he was incapable of attacking Obama on the most important grounds of all: that he stood for values inimical to America’s founding principles. When he did venture into this territory, it was half-cocked and far too late, appearing merely like the desperate throw of a loser. The reason he couldn’t do it earlier was that he had no coherent platform of his own. So why vote for a muddled and erratic quasi-'progressive' when the real thing is a rock star? It cannot be said too emphatically -- the Republicans lost this election. Obama ran a superbly disciplined campaign and he was an impressive candidate, particularly in his calm and stately demeanour throughout. The Republicans screwed up in government, they selected a hopelessly frail and erratic candidate, he ran a shambolic campaign. They deserved to lose. >>> Melanie Phillips | November 5, 2008

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