“Obama, Obama, Obama. All anybody ever talks about is Obama.”

Mais c’est vrai. Obama is the only subject of conversation about the election these days. McCain is a total non-actor on this side of the pond. As this article from Le Monde says, John McCain is virtually unknown in certain parts of France, the country in which he has one of the lowest approval ratings–around 5%, according to a recent poll conducted by newspapers and media outlets around the world.

As Sydney noted, I have heard several comparisons to JFK, most recently from a Greek high school physics teacher who was hosting me in Greece who said that, like Jack, Obama seemed to represent change, and that is what America needs right now–it doesn’t matter if it’s a change in the right direction; any change would put America on a better course than the one it is on now.

(And just as a side note, there is almost a maternal view in Europe towards the United States. Even though the US is the global superpower, it is seen as a relatively new country still finding its way, so like a mother watching her teenage son who’s bigger and stronger than she is but still needs to be woken up in the mornings to go to school, there’s a sense in Europe that if only America listened to them, they could impart some parental wisdom that would help with the growing pains.)

And, finally, similar to the way in which the most unlikely people are supporting Obama, everybody–and I mean everybody–wants to claim a connection to him.

So kind of a random collection of stuff, but le voilà, and there will be more as Tuesday approaches. Coming up next time: What the French think about early voting! (And boy do they have opinions on grocery store voting machines…)