RT: 'Obamamania bypasses Russia'

The more I learn about the Russians, the more I like them. If this article from Russia Today, Obamamania bypasses Russia, is accurate, then the Russian people have risen considerably in my eyes. Some excerpts from the article:

During a visit to Moscow, the U.S. president will have to fight skepticism in Russia of both his policies and his image.

Good for the Russians!

The expert [i.e., Mihail Neizhmakov, previously mentioned in full article] believes that Obama’s efforts to boost image are more effective in Europe than in the countries of the Middle East. Will the upcoming visit help him to boost his image in Russia?

Well, thank you, Russia Today, for pointing out the obvious about Obama's foreign policy in Europe vs. the Middle East. And I wouldn't count on his image in Russia being improved, at least with the government and people who support the government, due to his decision to grant the far-left opposition paper Novaya Gazeta an interview.

According to the poll conducted by Levada Center at the end of June, only 42 percent of respondents believe that the Russian-U.S. relations will improve dramatically or even slightly after Obama’s visit to Moscow.

Almost 40 percent of those polled said that relations would not change at all. However, only three percent of respondents believe Russian-U.S. relations might deteriorate after the meeting of the leaders of the two countries. One is left to guess how long it will take to wait until the “reset” in U.S. relations with Russia becomes fruitful.

Oh dear, I think they were making fun of the reset button incident in that last sentence there.

Obama will try to boost his image in Russia, despite it not being his main task in Moscow, observers believe. His decision to grant an interview to the Russian liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta is interpreted as one of his attempts to achieve this. The paper is famous for criticizing the authorities.

I find this interesting--this is how the Russians view Obama's upcoming Novaya Gazeta interview, and I agree: he's trying to boost his image. I also think he will fail miserably. Later in the article, a person is quoted as saying that he thinks the government is okay with the interview. All in all interesting stuff from a source that's supposed to be a "Kremlin-sponsored propaganda tool".

Obama will deliver a speech before students of the New Economic School in Moscow. The school’s director of development, Aleksey Sitnikov, told Svobodnaya Pressa (Free Press) website that the students were going to ask Obama if he knows who Ksenia Sobchak is.

I feel proud, because I know who Ksenia Sobchak is. But I bet Obama doesn't.

All in all, an interesting article on an interesting topic. Personally, I think our relations with Russia are going to get a lot more interesting and amusing because Obama, to put it lightly, does not know what he's doing, but Putin does. Putin will enjoy playing with Obama, so to speak, as well as making a fool of him.

I dislike Obama quite a bit, so I, for one, will be very amused.