When Barack Obama leaves this weekend for his tour of the Middle East and Europe, he is likely to attract enthusiastic crowds -- especially among black Europeans and black expatriates living abroad.

Obama's tour will include Germany, France and Britain, and organizers there are expecting a massive turnout for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

“The Obama presidency slowly becoming reality is exciting because it marks a break from ‘politics as usual,’” Miles Marshall Lewis, an author who moved to Paris from Harlem in 2004, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Obama doesn't belong to the good-ol'-boy network of politicians who succeed through nepotism or race privilege. As a brother of color, I would expect his foreign policy to be more empathic to the interests of other cultures internationally.”

Lewis, who wrote "Scars..." and "There's a Riot Goin' On," is working on a memoir about being a black American male in 21st century Paris. Lewis married a French woman in 2006, and their two sons were born in France and hold dual nationality. He said he and his family plan to return to the U.S. in a few years, but that could change.

“My original plans were to return to American in 2011, but should Obama win in November, I may go back next year. Living under the Obama administration will be history in the making that I wouldn't want to miss,” Lewis told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

An Obama victory in November would affect not just the way the world views the U.S., Lewis said, but could mean a lot to black Europeans of African and Caribbean descent.

“If (GOP opponent Sen. John) McCain wins, America's problems with international diplomacy will probably worsen,” Lewis said. “French blacks are excited about the possibilities of a black president because it reminds them of the civil rights era, when the black struggle inspired Algerian resistance here, for example. A win for Obama would cause French people with African or Caribbean roots to feel that their options for blacks have expanded on an international level. White French continue to pretend that race is not a factor worth discussing, and so a black man as president of the United States is being treated as a normal, everyday possibility.”

There are about 2,500 U.S. Democrats who have remained politically active through Democrats Abroad in France. The organization coordinates voter registration, get out the vote and fundraising events and keeps expats generally apprised of what’s going on politically back home. The group has supported Obama since last fall and has organized very enthusiastic events on the candidate’s behalf.

Lewis said the voting process for Americans living abroad is pretty simple.

“I voted in the primary by requesting an absentee ballot online, and it was sent to me in more than enough time to mail my vote back to New York City. Black expats are more excited about this election than in 2004, as a black man with liberal politics has a strong chance of winning the presidency.”

And Obama’s appeal extends beyond France.

“If Germany had electoral votes, John McCain wouldn’t stand a chance of being president,” said John Hulsman, an analyst for the German Council on Foreign Relations.

Hulsman told BlackAmericaWeb.com that a recent poll showed that about 70 percent of Germans surveyed supported Obama, with 14 percent supporting McCain and the rest undecided.

A large part of Obama’s popularity, Hulsman said, stems from Obama not being connected, in the minds of many Germans, even remotely with the Bush administration.

“It’s hard to really overestimate the damage to transatlantic relations during George Bush’s presidency,” Hulsman said.

Obama, by contrast, represents an opportunity to open a fresh dialogue with U.S. allies with someone who will actually listen to their concerns, Hulsman said. “It’s an opportunity they’ve been waiting for, for a long time.”

In Britain, reaction to Obama’s candidacy has been a mixed bag, ranging from enthusiastic support to those who suggest an Obama win would let bigots off the hook, thinking they had achieved a post-racial equality in America. It also has opened the door to debate within Britain about its own racial issues and the representation of black Brits in the political arena.

According to the Telegraph.co.uk Web site, a poll it conducted among the five richest countries gave Obama an overall 52 percent approval rating, compared to just 15 percent for McCain, although when broken down by country, Britain was Obama’s toughest critic, giving him 49 percent, compared to 14 percent for McCain.

Some say Obama’s popularity abroad may not play well at home where Americans tend to be indifferent at best and downright surly at worst, rejecting any notion that the U.S. should care what foreign countries think of America and its policies.

Some political observers, however, say that there are enough Americans, frustrated by the continuing war in Iraq and the nation’s image abroad, that Obama may represent a real chance to regain respect overseas, which ultimately affects U.S. foreign policy.

“Europeans may have their faults,” Hulsman said, “but very little can be done without a cooperative America working with us. The only problem Obama will have is managing expectations should he win. After what it’s been like the last eight years, it’s a welcome problem to have.”