Americans Afraid of Travel?: Response to Obama Trip Suggests “Yes”

07/26/08  Print This Post Print This Post    3 Comments   Popular   Written by Julie Schwietert
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Barack Obama has had a busy week, jetting through the Middle East and Europe to take the pulse of the world’s attitude towards America and to engage in a series of visits and talks with world leaders.

It’s a trip that should make America proud (particularly given the geographic and diplomatic gaps in the current president’s consciousness), but Americans’ response to Obama’s trip has been curiously tepid.

Despite an anticipated drop in the polls, Obama said he felt the trip was important. Rather than detracting attention from Americans’ concerns about the economy, Obama argued that:

…”many issues that we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad….”

What do you think about Obama’s trip? And do you think that Americans’ negative reaction to his trip says something about Americans’ attitude about travel? Sound off below!

Photo: Llima


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About the Author

Matador ID: collazo

Julie Schwietert is the managing editor of Matador Network. She contributed a chapter to the recently published book, The Voluntary Traveler, and is currently working on five features for Fodor's Puerto Rico, 6th Edition.

3 Comments... join the discussion!

  • Peter Davison replied on July 27, 2008

    I think the timing of your thoughts on Americans and their fear of travel is appropiate. It seems that Europe is anxious to see that the Americans are interested in what is going on in the rest of the world. I mean, 200,000 people in Berlin, a large press gallery in Britian and many other hightlights of the trip would suggest to me that its not just Obama but people are looking for a deeper trans-atlantic understanding of each other. ____As a Canadian, I hear mumblings of the fact that US citizens on average do not have an up-to-date passport or any interest in travelling. In all fairness, I am in Shanghai and I have met some great Americans that are anxious to see the world and show the world that they dont hold up to the sterotypes of being sheltered. ____Here is some food for thought that I thought might go along with your discussion. I went to google to see if I could get an answer on the issue of the percentage of passports to US population. I found an interesting article by a journalist named Alkman Granitsas. It fits nicely with this post: ____” target=”_blank”>http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=655...

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  • Kira Hagen replied on July 29, 2008

    There were a LOT of Americans at the rally, actually – Berlin hosts 19,000 US expats and a lot of tourists who were in town went to see Obama as well. I ran into half the Americans I know at the speech, and I'm pretty sure every American I know attended. Being there was pretty neat… Obama said a lot of things that I never expected an American politician to say, like acknowledging that America is actually part of the world and her actions have consequences. Remember, a lot of American citizens have expatriated themselves over the last few years, and we vote too.

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  • Michael R replied on July 30, 2008

    People come to see Obama for a several reasons….. – He is the most talented politician on the global scene at the moment – He gives people hope, which, if you think about it, ought to be what all politicians do all of the time…. but unfortunately, so few of them do. (certainly no neocons) – He is brave and strong-willed – He is an intelligent, studied, and inspirational speaker – He really seems to have thought everything through, and understands how to lift the people (and economy) of USA. I genuinely think that not electing him president would be a bigger mistake than the Iraq war. … to Kira…. even if all 19,000 US expats were there, that's still 181,000 europeans.

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