The Thais that I've spoken with don't really seem to care much about world politics. Quite parochial.

 

Indonesia is a whole different story. Dubya is hated with a passion. One guy really liked the shoe throwing incident.

 

But Obama seems generally well liked. There is a feeling that he is a reasonable man who realizes that the people of our planet need to work together and that America can't just impose it's will with impunity.

 

I'm a big Obama fan but I fear expectations may be way too high. We'll see,

Just before the election I read a good article on Indonesia that said the same thing. They cited the fact that he grew up and went to school in Indonesia for years as one of the main reasons they liked Obama. Because he lived there, they consider him one of their own---in spite of the fact that he is Christian.

In my travels across Southeast Asia, I find that in general, Obama is very well liked. Although to be fair, when I asked about Bush, they thought he was ok, too. Maybe they just like anything American? Most seemed surprised when I said I did not like Bush.

Re Bush:

 

In Thailand they just don't care about anything but Thailand.

 

Elsewhere they're being polite and don't want to offend.

 

When I make clear in Indonesia, that I hate Dubya, then their true feelings come out unless if they're just trying to agree with that.

 

As far as Obama they feel is as much their side as any American president can be. And perhaps they sense he is about as good a man as an American president can be.