It's fascinating (and extraordinary) that so many Americans see Obama as a "leftist", because here is how he rates in a Canadian or Western European sense: somewhat to the right of center.

Despite this, he is seen as tremendously preferable to McCain or Bush or Cheney, etc! So people in Canada and Europe are delighted that he has been elected. It signals a step in a better direction as far as we are concerned, and we hope for the best.

Here's a great article in today's Toronto Star to demonstrate what I'm talking about:

Canadian view of Barack Obama

The article is written by Rosie DiManno, one of Canada's foremost columnists. I would describe her as a tough "conservative" liberal in Canadian terms. That is, she writes for a liberal newspaper, but she tends to write from a rather conservative "tough love" mindset. For example, she has enthusiastically backed the Iraq war from day 1, while our government chose not to get involved in it and not to support it, and our public in general looked askance at the whole thing. I agree with Rosie DiManno about half the time. She's smart, tough, stubborn, and opinionated. I would not know whether to describe her as "liberal" or "conservative", because she just doesn't fully fit either description.