Finnish supporters celebrate Obama victory in USA

Halonen and Stubb congratulate new American leader

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“We have watched the returns come in at home. Our 7-year-old son Matti is awake, and we plan to take him to school late”, said Tommi Mäkilä, 38, early Wednesday, Finnish time. Mäkilä volunteered for the campaign of Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama, serving as an advisor on energy issues.
      “After the long campaign it seems a bit unreal that it is over and Obama has been declared the winner.”
      “It’s an incredible feeling. My own multicultural child will be able to grow up in a country led by Obama.
     Tommi is married to a black American woman.
     
Mäkilä took on US citizenship in 2004 in order to vote against the re-election of President George W. Bush.
      Helsingin Sanomat met Mäkilä on New Year’s Day shortly before the Iowa caucuses.
     
“MAGNIFICENT!!! It’s great to see how this will affect everything. I still can’t believe that this happened”, writes Nelli Ruotsalainen, a university student in Rhode Island, in an e-mail. At 19 years of age, she is a dual citizen of Finland and the United States.
     
“Now I need to open some bubbly - or at least another beer. This is an historic victory, which raised considerable shouts in the audience”, says Finnish development finance consultant Jaakko Helleranta, 33, who lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
     Helleranta could not vote, but he campaigned eagerly on behalf of Obama in Virginia, which went to the Democrats for the first time since 1964.
     
Meanwhile, here in Finland, President Tarja Halonen said that with Barack Obama, the United States got a youthful and enthusiastic president.
     Commenting on the result early Wednesday at an event held at the American Chamber of Commerce in Helsinki, Halonen said that the result was historic, in that the large non-white minority in the United States is getting a clear recognition that in a functioning democracy, a good man or woman can become President.
      Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) saw Obama’s victory to be a very strong demonstration of democracy. He said that he is waiting for the day when a non-white candidate is named president or prime minister of a European country.
     Stubb expects relations between Finland and the United States to develop in a more positive direction.
     Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) said that he hopes that active cooperation between the United States and Finland will continue.

More on this subject:
 Finnish experts not worried about Obama’s views on trade

Previously in HS International Edition:
  President Tarja Halonen sends message of congratulation to President-elect Barack Obama (5.11.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat