Foreign opline: Obama's 2nd term will take 'audacity'

The (Toronto) Globe and Mail , editorial: "The agent of change and hope has become the status quo. The Barack Obama who electrified the U.S. electorate in 2008 is gone. The grayer man in his place faces a skeptical America and will have a hostile House on his hands. Now the really hard work begins — the work of becoming the great reconciler he vowed to be in his first term, but never became. ... The challenge today is to begin knocking down the deficit while continuing to heal an economy with a stubbornly high unemployment rate, in a world in which the Asian and European markets for U.S. goods and services are having difficulties of their own. ... No one said the job was supposed to be easy. It will take audacity."

Serkan Demirtaş, Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey): "Relations between Turkey and the United States are expected to enter a new and intensified hectic period amid ongoing regional crises, such as Syria's turmoil and Iran's controversial nuclear drive, amid Democrat Obama's victory. ... Although Obama's relatively non-interventionist and multilateral foreign policy will not shift much in its direction, expectations are high that he will be much more engaged with global affairs."

Mark Nuckols, The Moscow Times: "Like most presidents, Obama would like to leave a positive legacy. ... After his signature health care reform, reducing the threat posed by the unthinkably destructive danger posed by nuclear weapons would cement his place in history. To do so, he needs Russian cooperation to achieve his most important foreign policy objectives. Under a second Obama administration, Russia has a unique opportunity to secure agreement with the U.S. in areas of its own national interest as well as its mutual interests with the U.S."

Francis Matthew,Gulf News (United Arab Emirates): "Many would like to see (Obama) restart the foreign policy that he described when he was first elected, and launch a new inclusive one, in which the U.S. works with the Muslim world as an equal partner. This would involve the U.S. tackling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on occupation and start a dialogue with Iran on how to find an agreed solution to the nuclear program standoff. ... It would need a real political earthquake to rediscover the spirit that Obama unleashed in 2009 when he spoke in Cairo to the Muslim world."

Hilary Leila Kreiger,The Jerusalem Post: "One of the few areas where Obama has acknowledged making mistakes during his first term is the Middle East peace process. Yet during the campaign he never spelled out what, if anything, he would do differently in a second administration. And, just as important, the leaders in the region have stayed as consistent as the American political structure. ... Elections usually turn a new page (but) Obama and other figures on the national and international stage have done little to suggest they'll be using a different playbook."

Eddie Barnes, scotsman.com: "A win is a win. (But) Obama's second term will be a damp squib unless he can somehow reach across the floor to the Republicans in Congress, getting Democrats to back spending cuts and Republicans to accept some form of tax increases. ... For the rest of the world, this economic challenge will be the key focus for the coming months, with the health of America's economy remaining the driver of the global one as well. ... Obama is powerless to act over the eurozone crisis, but where America leads, so Europe might follow."

William Esposo, The Philippine Star: "Filipinos should be elated over the Obama victory. Forget about those religion-tainted issues like pro-life. ... Our concern should focus on how a fair and more equitable relationship with the U.S. could help jump-start our economy and help us in protecting our territory from Chinese threats to take it away from us. Thus far, Obama has been very supportive in terms of sending strong signals that the U.S. will help the Philippines should China opt to be aggressive."

The (London) Guardian, editorial: "Getting re-elected after a grittily difficult four years was always going to be much harder than getting elected after the economic and military incompetence of the George W. Bush era. (Obama's) victory wasn't big. ... It certainly wasn't inspirational in the way that his win in 2008 was. In places it was wafer-thin. But it was a U.S. presidential win all the same. And the win in 2012 matters just as much as the earlier win did in 2008. In difficult times, it is even, arguably, a greater political achievement. Obama's win is good for Americans, good for America and good for the world."

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