Essay Contest

Essay Question

By: Deborah Kempf

The outcome of the 2008 US Presidential Election is going to affect not only the United States but also many other countries, for America is one of the global powers in the world and has a great influence on many states besides America. So my home country, Germany, will also be affected by the outcome of the Election. Both candidates for the White House are John McCain, a republican, and Barack Obama, an African-American democrat. In the following I am going to describe what influence the new president of the United States will have on Germany.

Barack Obama is an avowed disputant of the Iraq War and that's one of the things that make him popular in Germany. He wants to pull out the troops positioned in the Iraq, which is one of the expectations many Germans have of the next American president, as Germany is a country that is trying to avoid war because of its history. But although the termination of the Iraq War will be of interest to Germany, a problem would came with Obama as the next president, too: He wants to send the pulled out troops of the Iraq to Afghanistan and demands aid from Germany which the Germans are not willing to give. Another goal of Obama is the climate protection and on that score he matches the Europe associations for this is very important in Europe and thus in Germany, too. These two mentioned things (Iraq War, climate protection) make him very popular in Germany and many Germans do not know that the election of Obama would have some negative affects on Germany as well. E.g.: He wants to promote the climate protection through aid payments to American carmakers - to the disfavor of the German competition. But besides that he has some aims for America that the Germans are look at as a good thing: He wants to fight the poverty, supply insurance cover for every child, increase unemployment benefit, stop the torture of terrorists, close the prison in Guantanamo and he also promises less nuclear weapons. This last thing might affect Germany as well as other countries in a positive way- it makes the United States less dangerous and shows that America is willing to have a peaceful relationship to other states. Another argument for Obama is that he wants to improve the transatlantic connections what influences Germany in a direct way as there might be formed a better relationship between the US and Europe.

On the other hand we have John McCain. He is a promoter of the Iraq War and in this point most of the Germans would be unsatisfied with him as the next president of the United States. He also wants to send troops to Afghanistan like Obama and he wants aid from Germany, too. But like already said the Germans do not want to be involved in a war in Afghanistan and are not willing to support America in this purpose. And this might affect the German-American relationship in a bad way if McCain actually requires Germany's participation in this war and Germany withholds it. But he, too, wants to work actively on the climate problem and plans to reduce greenhouse gases and to flow oil in the Arctic- and more oil may lowers the prices and that would be a good thing. But one difficulty he might bring with him is his attitude towards Russia. He is very anti-Russian and postulates its sequestration from G8; but for Germany this was fatally for its business for Russia is no unimportant trading partner. But besides this he wants to strengthen the relationship to Europe and since America is after France the second most important export market that could have a great impact on Germany. He had already shown his will to cooperate with Germany: He regularly takes part in the Munich security conference. And he also answers many expectations Germany has of the next president of America concerning things he wants to change that answer German standards: He wants to close the Guantanamo prison, reinforce the economic policy, supply insurance cover for every child and some more.

Summarizing you can say that although it is neither Germany's election nor Germany's new president, the Germans could not ignore the fact that the American Presidential Elections will influence their country in different ways. And although Obama is very popular in Germany you have to weigh the Pros and Cons of both candidates. Anyway we cannot influence the outcome of the Elections, but things in Germany will change depending on the new President of the United States of America.