Around the world, perceptions of Obama-Romney contest lag reality

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/around-the-world-perceptions-of-obama-romney-contest-lag-reality/2012/10/21/8b336c56-1b84-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_story.html?hpid=z1

 BERLIN — As President Obama and Mitt Romney prepare for a Monday debate on foreign policy and polls show the Republican challenger with a real chance of victory in two weeks, many observers abroad are saying: Wait, what?

From Europe to China to the Middle East, perceptions of the contest have lagged behind indications that the two men are in a virtual dead heat. Obama remains widely popular abroad, and there are signs that many leaders are unprepared for a Romney presidency

In Western Europe, few people can imagine Romney in office. In China, officials have been focused on the intrigues of their impending leadership transition, though many worry that both American candidates have been beating up on their country instead of pummeling each other. And in the Middle East, political chaos has kept many activists and officials from contemplating the election much at all.

In Europe, leaders have good reason to avoid the issue: From the Scottish Highlands to the heel of Italy, it’s Obama country all the way. One survey last month from the German Marshall Fund found Europeans breaking 75 percent for Obama and 8 percent for Romney. Even conservative leaders have maneuvered themselves to appear closer to the U.S. president, reasoning that they can get their own electoral bump from doing so

the rest of the world doesn't trust him do they know more about his character than we do, i first guess, yes he's been whiling and dealing and supplying them with the labor force that he now wants to blame the Pres. for losing, those jobs are not lost we know exactly where the are and so does he. does he think they will give them back? 

Three years into an economic crisis in the euro zone that has threatened to spill into the United States, many European leaders have built alliances with the Obama administration that they worry would reset to zero under Romney, analysts say. The Republican challenger has pointed to Europeans as symbols of the big-government socialist state that he says Obama wants to build.

they have tried to tumble the foreign good will the Pres. has built then run around telling the people "the Obamas foreign policy is unraveling", they commit the infractions then kick dirt on the Pres.'s shoes.