European foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration signal to the Muslim world and firmly anchor the country in Europe. The trip marked Obama's first visit to a Muslim majority country. Obama has asserted that a close relationship with a stable, democratic, Western-oriented Republic of Turkey is an important U.S. national interest. His administration declared that the U.S. will support the promotion of democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression in Turkey and support its efforts to join the European Union, which the president confirmed on his April visit. While Obama has gone on the record in the past as referring to the massacre of Armenians under the
Barack Obama: Der schwarze Kennedy Steffen Hallaschka, a moderator for Germany's NDR TV, said: "Germans in the '60s projected a lot of hope and fantasies on Kennedy. This is what they are doing with Obama." "Barack Obama – Der schwarze Kennedy" has been credited with helping to inspire interest in and support for Obama among people in Germany, with "der schwarze Kennedy" becoming a popular expression. Marschall, however, has pointed out in some interviews that Obama’s Democratic Party primary rival Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, are also popular in Germany and in the rest of Europe. Barack Obama: Der schwarze Kennedy