The Obama ring of confidence is not universal

Pew Research Center - Public Opinion on Obama

Results of a Pew Global Attitudes survey show high ratings for Barack Obama in many countries. Though much of this may simply be a reaction to the fact that Obama is not George W Bush.

What is interesting is the very luke warm opinion towards Obama in Muslim countries, especially in Palestine and Pakistan. Yet one of the Nobel committee is quoted saying this in the Dominion Post:-

“We simply disagree that he has done nothing,” committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said. “He got the prize for what he has done.”

Jagland singled out Obama’s efforts to heal the divide between the West and the Muslim world and scale down a Bush-era proposal for an anti-missile shield in Europe.

To be fair though another Pew piece suggests that additional polling after Obama’s Cairo speech did detect a more favourable view