Obama and minorities

The enthusiasm of many Europeans at Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential elections masks widespread unease about European minority and immigration policy, writes the daily Die Presse. "Barack Obama's election victory is having enormous repercussions among both his European critics and his supporters. On the one hand many reactions, such as those of Austrian television journalist Klaus Emmerich, betray a thinly-veiled racism. Other jocular comments fall flat, like the recent jests by Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. On the other hand, the enthusiasm bordering on hysteria of many Europeans betrays unease about how minorities, immigrants and others are treated here. The Atlantic Ocean acts thereby as a sort of discharge flume for moral exoneration. ... Perhaps the younger among us will even live to see a federal chancellor of Turkish descent, but only if we can achieve a well-directed immigration policy and a radical change in integration policy."

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