A Black President Will Boost Brand USA

Electing Obama will replace America's battered image with one of equality

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 23, 2008 9:58 AM CDT

(Newser) – Skin color is no reason to vote for anybody, Nick Kristof writes in the New York Times, but there's no denying that electing a black president would give America's image abroad a much-needed boost—"redefining the American 'brand' to be less about Guantánamo and more about equality." Almost half of people abroad polled by the BBC said a President Obama would "fundamentally change their view of the US."

In nations where the image of a racist US holds sway, people find the concept of a black president so astonishing they may well drop their pre-conceived anti-American notions. "If this election goes as the polls suggest, we may find a path to restore America’s global influence—and thus to achieve some of our international objectives," Kristof writes, "in part because the world is concluding that Americans can, after all, see beyond a person’s epidermis."

[Images (7)]

[Quotes (2)]

Supporters with an US flag cheer for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., during his speech at the Victory Column in Berlin, Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., waves as he arrives at the Victory Column in Berlin, Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. waves to the audience after a speech at the Victory Column in Berlin Thursday, July 24, 2008. The banner in the back reads 'Stop CO2'. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Barack Obama speaks at a rally in Leesburg, Va., Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Spectators listen to the speech of Barack Obama seen on the screen, in front of the Victory Column in Berlin, Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)

Barack Obama waves to the audience after his speech at the victory column in Berlin Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Fabian Bimmer)

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Europeans like to mock the vapidity of American politics, but they also acknowledge that it would be difficult to imagine a brown or black person leading France or Germany. -

This change in perceptions would help rebuild American political capital in the way that the Marshall Plan did in the 1950s or that John Kennedy’s presidency did in the early 1960s. -

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A Black President Will Boost Brand USA