The election of Obama was well received in the Spanish government where it is hoped that the relations between both countries will improved markedly. During Bush’s first four years, Spain was governed by the conservative party of Aznar who turned into a fan/follower of Bush and agreed totally with the American in what respected the Iraq War. Obviously, Aznar was always persona grata in Washington. Things changed dramatically when Aznar lost the elections in Spain and the socialist party won. Zapatero became president and decided to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq immediately after his 2004 election without seriously consulting the United States. Zapatero was not invited to Washington and it was only in the last G20 summit that he traveled to the US. Now, once Obama is in power it is expected that both presidents will have a close relationship. Curiously, they have some personal things in common: both are lawyers and they were born a 4th of August just one year apart. Zapatero is 48 years old and Obama 47. They are both tall and thin and are passionate about basketball and each has two daughters and are married to lawyers. Politically each has arrived to power in name of a new generation and after very conservative governments. For the US it could be good to have good communications with Spain as it would help with Latin America where Spain has a large influence and at the same time with Europe. Zapatero’s role as an European ally with the government of Obama could be similar to the one of Blair with the governments of Clinton and Bush.
Of course, not all are similarities and there exist also large political differences between both leaders. Zapatero is a committed Socialist whose signature issues of the second term, that he won last March, are legalizing assisted suicide, liberalizing Spain’s abortion laws and increasing church-state separation. He has also enacted laws permitting quick divorces and same-sex marriages. All this could hardly had place in Obama’s policies.
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