World engrossed in historic vote

BERLIN

Around the world, throngs packed outdoor plazas and pubs to await U.S. elections results Tuesday, many inspired by Sen. Barack Obama’s promise of change amid a sense of relief that - no matter who wins - the White House is changing hands.

As millions of voters decided between Mr. Obama or Sen. John McCain, the world was abuzz with the sense of bearing witness to a moment of history that would reverberate well beyond American borders.

“America is electing a new president, but for the Germans, for Europeans, it is electing the next world leader,” said Alexander Rahr, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations.

In Kenya, Mr. Obama’s ancestral homeland, the atmosphere was electric with pride and excitement as people flocked to all-night parties to watch election results roll in.

“Tonight, we are not going to sleep,” said Valentine Wambi, 23, a student at the University of Nairobi who planned to join hundreds of other students in the Kenyan capital for an election party. “It will be celebrations throughout.”

Kenyans think an Obama victory wouldn’t change their lives much, but that hasn’t stopped them from splashing his picture on minibuses and selling T-shirts with his name and likeness.

The Irish village of Moneygall was also trying to claim Mr. Obama as a favorite son - based on research that concluded the candidate’s great-great-great grandfather, Joseph Kearney, lived there before emigrating to the United States.

The entertainment at Moneygall’s Hayes Bar, where an American flag fluttered outside window Tuesday, included a local band called Hardy Drew & the Nancy Boys that has been winning air time with its rousing folk song “There’s No One as Irish as Barack Obama.”

In Germany, where more than 200,000 people flocked to see Mr. Obama this summer as he moved to burnish his foreign-policy credentials during a trip to the Middle East and Europe, the election dominated television ticker crawls, newspaper headlines and Web sites.

In Paris, among the more irreverent festivities planned was a “Goodbye George” party to bid farewell to President Bush.

“Like many French people, I would like Obama to win because it would really be a sign of change,” said Vanessa Doubine, shopping Tuesday on the Champs-Elysees. “I deeply hope for America’s image that it will be Obama.”

The election has also yielded the occasional prank. When 37-year-old Patrick Lindqvist woke up Tuesday in the southern city of Malmo, Sweden, he found six mock campaign posters for Mr. McCain planted just outside his house.

“It’s obviously a prank, but I have no idea who did it,” said Mr. Lindqvist, who is not involved in U.S. politics in any way. “If I had been able to vote in the American election, I would doubtless have chosen a young black man instead of an old white man.”

Obama-mania was evident not only across Europe but also in much of the Islamic world, where Muslims expressed hope that the Democrat would seek compromise rather than confrontation.

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