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From Russia, No Obama Love

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 8, 2009 7:34 AM CDT

(Newser) – Capitals across Europe have swooned for Barack Obama, but over two days in Moscow, the president got a reception more suited to a traveling salesman than a rock star. News coverage was sparse, crowds were nowhere to be seen, and even the students he addressed at an economics university came off unimpressed. "We don’t really understand why Obama is such a star," one graduate told the New York Times.

White House aides said they were surprised by the lack of attention to the visit: the Russian edition of Judge Judy took precedence over his speech, and even Michelle Obama failed to attract any press coverage. Some have mentioned race as a factor, but exhaustion with politics may have been the largest factor. "It is a jaded political culture that has had a very hard experience," said a Clinton speechwriter. "Some degree of cynicism about high-minded ideals is a natural outcome of that."

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

Barack Obama congratulates Oksana Sytnova, the top graduate at the National Economic School in Moscow. The president's speech was received coolly and wasn't screened on Russian television. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Barack Obama leaves the Manezh Exhibition Hall during the Parallel Business Summit in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, July 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev speak after attending a summit yesterday. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Presidential Press Service)

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It’s a question of trust, how he behaves, that typical charisma, which in Russia is often parodied. Russians really are not accustomed to it. It is like he is trying to manipulate the public. - Kirill Zagorodnov, who attended Obama's speech at a Moscow university

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 11 comments

kokuaguy

Jul 8, 2009 9:51 AM CDT

Dear AmEx, it won't take long for you to learn that the members of the Newser community will thumb you down for a myriad of reasons, or no reason at all. Often it's a mark of distinction for your comment (considering the source.) Keep the comments coming-- we need your perspective here.

Fondue

Jul 8, 2009 8:05 AM CDT

So it's all Obama's fault....again.

kokuaguy

Jul 8, 2009 5:07 AM CDT

The Russian government has been promoting anti-Americanism for years, and it's efforts got especially intense during the last Russian election. This was in response to the policies of the Bush administration. Obama is at the beginning of the process of turning that around. We'll see what the result are at the end of his second term (and I'm not off base in assuming there will be one-- even Rush has conceded that.) And yes, unfortunately, Russians to tend to be racially prejudiced, as many societies are.

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