Sen. Barack Obama may be struggling to connect in Wheeling, but he's doing well in Wien.
"The World Wants Obama Coalition" of international and U.S. expatriate supporters has turned into a booming marketplace of campaign-related outreach -- mostly involving people who are not eligible to vote in the U.S, but who are transfixed by the Obama candidacy.
The site lists 23 local Facebook groups (i.e. "J'aimerais trop que Barack Obama soit President!" and "Latinoamerica Apoya a Barack Obama") and eight global groups (like "The Whole World for B.O." and "Obamaism Worldwide"). Blogs and websites include barackobama.ru (in Cyrillic) and swedesforobama.com.
A "Bridges for Obama" photographic project, organized by Meredith Wheeler, a Chicago native now living in Lautrec, France, depicts Obama supporters and signage on 40 prominent bridges around the world, from the Pont Neuf in Paris and the Ponte Vecchio in Florence to the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, to the Nujibashi Bridge in Tokyo.
Another group is working to subtitle Obama videos into different languages, and is seeking volunteers to help with Arabic and Urdu. The archive already includes Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese translations. And the site gives instructions for making get out the vote calls to U.S. voters using the low-cost Internet telephone service, Skype.
The instructions read, "Start by explaining who you are, and asking if they would be happy to talk, for example: 'Hi, I'm Justin from London, England and I'm part of an international movement supporting Senator Obama. I can't vote in this election, but if you have a few minutes I'd love to talk to you about how a President Obama would improve America's standing in the world.'"
There are links to Obama songs, including a Spanish ring tone and a Mexican mariachi number, "Viva Obama." The candidate has inspired a Bollywood tribute and a reggae song. The Irish band Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys posted an Clancy Brothers meets Beastie Boys original number, "There's No One as Irish as Barack O'Bama":
O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama
You don't believe me / I hear you say
But Barack's as Irish / As was JFK
His granddaddy's daddy / Came from Moneygall
A small Irish village / Well known to you all
Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There's no one as Irish / As Barack O'Bama
"Senator Obama looks different, he sounds different, and millions of non-Americans believe he will act differently," reads the coalition's manifesto. "We cannot vote in the 2008 US elections, but if we could, we'd back Obama."
Yes, Sen. Obama does have an “international following”:
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