VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0605 3121558
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 071558Z NOV 08
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8689
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 9851
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 8915
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 3200

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000605 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD 
 
DEPT PASS USTR 
 
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: U.S. ELECTIONS 
 
The Boy from Hawaii 
 
Commentary by former Brazilian President Jos Sarney in liberal 
Folha de S. Paulo (11/07) says: "The U.S. will not change. It will 
continue with its problems, contradictions, crisis, their two wars 
(Iraq and Afghanistan), the contentiousness of the Middle East, 
North Korea, and Iran and, in order not to be left out of the game, 
the jocose challenges of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.  The major 
economic, political and cultural machine is still working.  A 
recession coming and an international image discussed by the actions 
of George W. Bush, an updated version of Theodore Roosevelt, of 
"big-stick". ... Obama's victory will not change, but changes 
everything. .. The victory was from the United States.  It is the 
country that justifies to the world the "why" of its leadership and 
its capability of renewing itself, even in the middle of an economic 
turmoil that nobody knows when it has started and when it will 
end... He (Obama) brings hope and the additional load of being a 
symbol for humankind of reconciliation of races and projects the 
ideal of a world without skin color and equalized by the dream of 
Luther King: character.  From this message he had the historical 
responsibility of being the protagonist.  He cannot fail in using 
this power given to him to pacify, unite and build a world different 
from the one he found when he was born on a night in Hawaii in the 
arms of a Kenyan, black as the night, originating from one of the 
most primitive tribes of his country, a boy crying, but a leader 
that has changed American history." 
 
A Black President 
 
Center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (11/07) comments: "President-elect 
Barak Obama's speech is a speech of a statesman that, beyond an 
optimistic message about the future of the U.S., contains the key to 
understanding the question of the day's journey of November 4: the 
election of the first black president in a country that has 43% 
white voters, paradoxically, ended up doing what he did without 
being mature enough.  It is true that Bush's series of disasters was 
decisive for Obama's success, but it is also true that a white 
Democratic candidate, even without exceptional skills, would have 
had a major part of many white voters." 
White