Germany: What if Romney wins?

Der Spiegel
PJ:  Germans have had a horrible history with far right politics and are loath to return to such ideals.  While their government is in nature conservative, on the whole they support progressive policies like one of the best public health care programs in Europe.  And while the support for fiscal conservative policies is intact, the population keeps a wary eye on any other governmental movement drifting too far to the right.  Today's US GOP has not drifted but has surged so far right that Germans suspect that a republican candidate such as "severely conservative" Mitt Romney will kowtow to the far-right leaders in his party making him suspect and perhaps even dangerous. 

The American Enigma Berlin Unsure about a Possible President Romney

By Severin Weiland

Germans like US President Barack Obama, but what if his challenger Mitt Romney wins next week's election instead? The Republican politician is hard to read when it comes to foreign policy matters, and politicians in Berlin are asking what it would mean for German-American relations.  

Germans have long since made up their minds about Mitt Romney. Only 5 percent would give him their vote if they had one, they say.

The result of the most recent poll by Forsa is far from surprising. When America votes, the German heart traditionally beats for the Democratic candidate. To many, the Republicans are suspect: cocky, Christian-conservative, narrow-minded and often hawkish -- at least according to the widespread cliché. Some 92 percent of Germans, the poll found, would vote to return incumbent Barack Obama to the White House. They aren't allowed to cast a ballot, of course, and are damned to be observers, nervously standing on the sidelines. Obama and Romney are neck-and-neck in the polls, with just days to go before Election Day next Tuesday. And politicians in Berlin have long since begun considering the possibility that Romney may take over the reins of state.

 

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/german-american-relations-what-would-a-romney-victory-mean-for-berlin-a-864804.html

International IHT: Reality vs politics

International Herald Tribune

Editorial

Jobs Are Growing, Not Stagnating

The presidential campaign has presented two very different approaches. This page rejected the approach of cutting taxes, slashing federal spending, and deregulating the banks and business, even before Mr. Romney made those Republican chestnuts his agenda. Never-ending tax cuts and excessive deregulation have been tried and have proved disastrous. Spending cuts in a slow economy are self-defeating, as is being amply demonstrated in Europe. 

Mr. Obama has asserted his employment agenda, including school and infrastructure rebuilding and aid to states to hire teachers. This was detailed in his jobs bill from last year. He has also vowed a responsible approach to deficit reduction, including preserving tax cuts for most Americans while letting the high-end Bush tax cuts expire. 

Such approaches would work, but time and again they have met with a stone wall from Republicans, who have been determined to keep the economy as weak as possible to hurt Mr. Obama’s campaign. The Republicans’ last-minute tactic has been a cynical one — to make it clear that they will continue obstructing Mr. Obama if he wins. That is a hollow argument for Mr. Romney. And it does not change the fact that Mr. Romney has no good ideas and Mr. Obama has plenty.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/03/opinion/jobs-are-growing-not-stagnating.html?ref=global-home&_r=0

Israel: Obama is good for Israel

Haaretz

Obama is good for Israel

The outcome of the elections will be determined by the voters' decision as to which of the two candidates is good for America. But if any of them are vacillating in their vote over whether Obama has been a good president for Israel, the answer is yes.

Haaretz Editorial | Nov.02, 2012 | 4:21 AM 

 

The outcome of the elections will be determined by the voters' decision as to which of the two candidates is good for America. But if any of them are vacillating in their vote over whether Obama has been a good president for Israel, the answer is yes.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/obama-is-good-for-israel-1.473888

UK: Editorially conservative The Economist endorses Obama

The Economist

Our American endorsement

Which one?

America could do better than Barack Obama; sadly, Mitt Romney does not fit the bill

As a result, this election offers American voters an unedifying choice. Many of The Economist’s readers, especially those who run businesses in America, may well conclude that nothing could be worse than another four years of Mr Obama. We beg to differ. For all his businesslike intentions, Mr Romney has an economic plan that works only if you don’t believe most of what he says. That is not a convincing pitch for a chief executive. And for all his shortcomings, Mr Obama has dragged America’s economy back from the brink of disaster, and has made a decent fist of foreign policy. So this newspaper would stick with the devil it knows, and re-elect him.

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21565623-america-could-do-better-barack-obama-sadly-mitt-romney-does-not-fit-bill-which-one

Israel: Israel with Obama or Romney

Jerusalem Post

Romney or Obama, Israel will see steady US course

Most Israelis would be reassured if Mitt Romney won next week's US presidential election, feeling they had an unquestioning friend rather than a dispassionate critic in the White House.

But any change would probably be a question of style over substance, analysts say, with a Republican administration expected to follow the path already laid out by US President Barack Obama when it comes to Iran and the Palestinians.

The allies are too joined at the hip on fundamental challenges for the head to make that much difference.

http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?id=290156

Canada: If Romney labels China a currency manipulator

The Globe and Mail

How Romney’s tough stand on China could play out as president

Matthew Pennington 

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney is promising to get tough on China to help American workers, but his plans could backfire.

Mr. Romney is pledging, on his first day in office, to designate China a currency manipulator, a step no administration has taken against any country for 18 years.

That could, eventually, lead to tariffs punishing China for policies that Americans believe unfairly keep Chinese products cheap, hurting U.S. manufacturers. Tariffs could trigger a trade war with a country that is the fastest-growing market for U.S. exports. Even if they don’t, the designation would instantly set back relations with Asia’s emerging superpower.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/us-election/how-romneys-tough-stand-on-china-could-play-out-as-president/article4813489/

UK: Down to the wire

The Economist

The presidential race

Spinning towards the finish

If the Romney campaign has evinced desperation recently, it has come in response to Hurricane Sandy. Huge disasters allow an incumbent to look presidential (most of the time), while the challenger must decide whether to cancel or continue his campaign. The optics are not fair. But in an effort to have it both ways, the Romney campaign on Tuesday turned a planned rally into an ineffectively rebranded "storm-relief event". It involved $5,000 of hasty cosmetic purchases at Wal-Mart, a host of non-perishable goods that the Red Cross said it did not want (but eventually accepted), and a lot of cringeworthy stagecraft. Noam Scheiber writes that the event was unintentionally revealing, in that it showed the limits of what private charity can accomplish after a massive disaster such as Sandy. He has a point.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/10/presidential-race-3