Barack Obama and Global Anti-Americanism

[Lord Bitememan]

3 months later I trust the whole of Europe has had the opportunity to clean the collective messes they made in the front of their pants when the election was called for Obama. If not, well, I guess they all get to have some blue dresses in their closets. When all the dust is settled the question remains, how long is the international goodwill going to last? In the wake of Obama's summer campaign rall. . . err. . . fact finding mission to Europe perhaps the most lucid and realistic article on the matter was penned by one David Aaronovitch of The Times. Submitted for your approval:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/david_aaronovitch/article4374704.ece

So, I'd say the big question remains, how long till Europe turns it's back on America again?  

[Latopazora]

I… I think I agree with the author. The United States has huge problems and I don't blame the rest of the world looking down on us for them. And with the stimulus package, we're borrowing and printing money, which is causing our credit to plummet like a bomb. I'm not sure exactly when Europe is going give us the middle finger equivalent peace sign. But I do think it'll be during Obama's first term.

edit- one too many 'like'  

[Lord Bitememan]

Quote:

like a like bomb

I have no idea what a "like bomb" is or even how it will work. Please, enlighten us, I though smart bombs were the best we had. razz  

[Latopazora]

uh... its just something I pulled out of my a** really, the U.S.'s credit is failing horribly, and when bombs fall, they fall hard and explode. I just have a feeling that's what's happening to our credit score and no one is going want to deal with us financially.  

[DanskiWolf]

Many Eurotrash libs have already disowned Obama because he's too "hawkish" and too pro-Israel. I'd give it one year tops before the European public opinion turns against America once more. The pricks will hate America no matter the skin colour of its chief executive.  

[Rainbowfied Mouse]

I think Europe is going to do well with us, for once. I've been noticing more Europeans being friendly with Americans... my Uncle actually lives in the UK and tells me the media seems to really like Obama. I do believe, however, that this will last at most a year.  

[Lord Bitememan]

Just bear in mind: Clinton went out of his way to defer to the French on everything and anything. The result: by the end of 8 years of Clinton the French were calling us the "hyperpower" and decrying the US role as "globocop."  

[DanskiWolf]

Maybe Germany needs to invade France again. I can assure their tune would once again be different.  

[Rainbowfied Mouse]

Maybe Europe needs another world war to put them in line. Seriously they baby about everything... I am not saying I'd like a world war, but it'd put their logic back where it needs to be.  

[Lord Bitememan]

Europe is the way it is for a variety of reasons. After World War II they were immasculated. France was wholly dependant on the US to try to maintain its colonial empire, and even with US finances and material, French troops just couldn't do it. England too was forced to slowly whittle away at its empire. Once mighty Germany was partitioned and wholly dependant on US forces to keep Soviet tanks from overrunning her. The whole of Europe, at the blink of an eye, saw itself reduced to vasselage in the Cold War, and threatened irrelevance after the fall of the Soviet Union. Part of the reason Bush was so unpopular was that he threatened to expose Europe as totally irrelevant (as opposed to Clinton who merely provided a working example of their ineptitude in Yugoslavia). If you think Iraq war opposition was wholly based on good calls on the part of Europeans you would be wrong. A big chunk of that Iraq war opposition was about Europe trying to demonstrate some sort of capacity to be powerful and relevant. Bush ignoring the Euros was the ultimate jock strap from the QB in the face of the nerd action. But, it belies the truth; the football player IS an enormous lump of muscle and capability, and the nerd is puny and has to accept what he must in life. Russia can hit back. When we recognized an independant Kosovo it was only a matter of months before Russia was in Georgia. Europe is powerless, and the less we defer to them, the more their lack of power is rubbed in their faces.

Of course, Europe would much rather have us running the show than a tyrant like Putin. It's just that Putin running the show isn't going to happen, not in this generation. So, the US is the established order of things and that's not going to change. If there were a legitimate threat of a more unscrupulous and autocratic power taking the reigns you'd better believe Europe would change its tune on the US pretty quickly. It's that the US is so secure in its position that makes it a safe target, and a safe target is a targeted target.

Lastly, there's something to be said for the "get a job, get your own place, then you can do whatever you want" paradigm. In short, Europe loves to complain about US global leadership, but they hate to provide any of their own as an alternative. When we went into Yugoslavia the chattering classes of Europe whined that it was just some shallow move designed to re-invent NATO into a US-led global police force. Of course, when we didn't go into Rwanda they complained that we sat back and let a genocide happen. You'll also notice something else, none of them got off their duffs and did anything about Rwanda. That's because the US spends tons of money maintaining a top rate military that can go to other spots in the world and provide this sort of policing. We're the only military on Earth capable of going literally anywhere, at the drop of a hat, to provide either military policing, logisitical support, or humanitarian relief. This is tremendously expensive, requiring both a considerable investment of US treasure, and a certain investment in blood and political will. Europe doesn't like that price tag. Of the militaries of western Europe presently only 2 have limited projection capacity, and even those are diminishing. The French and British are both decommissioning warships, drastically reducing their capabilities as combat capable nations. Most spend a laughable proportion of GDP on military spending. Even if the US WERE to satisfy the critics of Europe and disengage from world affairs, Europe would be incapable of resolving crises anywhere on the globe.

So, no American president will ever satisfy European critics as long as he is the commander in chief, and not the European in chief. Even the most multilateral of Democrats will fall prey to this dilemma as long as he places the interests of his own nation ahead of all others.  

[stareyed_in_LA]

*After reading the article*

God, please, I promise to take back what I said about you being ignorant about the world if my future foreign husband disapproves of Obama like I do.