If Barack Obama becomes President-Elect next week, don't expect any of the snide anti-american Brits, Aussie and others to change their tune. They've had a hate figure in Bush for the past eight years, and I don't doubt that Barack Obama will become an equal hate figure within a short amount time.
This will be because walking in the Oval Office and actually executing the power is never the same as criticising from the sidelines. They will not be able to help themself the minute Obama has to say something positive about Israel, or makes nosies in the wrong direction towards Iran or some other state.
Mark my words, you'll still here and read crap about how America is "slaughtering" people in Middle East; how she has her hands tied by the evil Jews in Israel, and all other manner of Noam Chomsky-style bullshit about so-called American imperialism.
15 comments:
It'll be like Blair: their wrath will be all the greater for being let down by their champion. I'm almost looking forward to it.
I absolutely agree. People have put him up on a pedestal, so the fall could be even the greater.
you might want to host this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T60-oMPWWOU
it gets to the point about the smirking joker whose screwed things up
Dunno, Bill is remembered more fondly by the left than he really deserves.
Maybe it'll be different this time because the net is much bigger and there's more channels for frustrations to show out, but the left (of the UK), were pretty keen on Bill as I remember - even when he bombed third world countries.
What will be interesting is to see if Obama will launch any airstrikes in Africa's direction, whether that's met with applause or incredulity and whether he can reconcile that with his posturing on TV in traditional clothing.
This all assumes that he actually wins the power obviously.
Dizzy, Obama has already stuck his nose in on the Israel issue by defining what the Israelis and Palestinians can negotiate about and it apparently is not Jerusalem.
So forget peace in the Middle east if he is elected, he is Likud on that score.
If Obama wins it will be a lefty love fest - not least because Obama is a socialist.
If Obama wins prepare to be inundated into apoplexy with long verbose epics of boring rhetoric -- Ad nauseum.
We get a taste of it tonight - or rather America does - with a 30 minute party political broadcast - just before the World Series.
I wonder how this will go down, intimations of hubris?
As someone who lived outside the USA during the 1990s, trust me, the lefties/libs didn't like America just because a D was in the office. They directed their hatred and scorn at institutions and things other than the president, but it was still there. Bush just gives them a focal point. Besides, Obama is clearly a trade protectionist, which won't win a lot of friends overseas.
Here is a useful graph of anti-Americanism by country. Note the wide variances.
No way! The Euros will simply change their complaint. Instead of saying "We don't hate America, we just hate Bush,", now they'll say "We don't hate Obama, we just hate America!".
People can be flexible when they need to be.
I lived in Germany during the Clinton years... I think the NYT seems to remember him as being "loved" by the Euros... I seem to remember... quite vividly... the dinner parties I had to sit through while they raked the US over the coals... that's when I realized how much I missed the US and came home because, quite frankly, they were all spoiled a-holes with nothing better to do than berate the US while consuming all of their goods...honestly... you'd have thought they'd be rioting when Starbucks opened over there... but no... they were lined up to buy a grande instead. If Obama gets elected, the Euro welcome mat will wear out very quickly... its just a case of how much he will sell Americans down the river to court their continuing adoration. Personally, I think he'd make a better chancellor of Germany because they do love a messiah figure and they sure know how to rally en masse.
If some external force exerts itself upon europe...
think putin,
they'll panic.
chirac already called his view on iran immature. Who do you think they will blame if NK or Iran actually tests fire a nuke?
he'll be loved, but very conditionally.
He'll go from hero to mascot in about 60 secs
Meh, I disagree. I think the people who makes these snide comments are merely leftists. Obama is one of them -- and America, praise God, will finally have been rescued from the ravages of cowboy politics....until we elect another Republican, of course.
Are you kidding? This will be great! Anytime someone criticizes the US or Obama, we will call them "racist." It has been working like this in the US for years. If you criticize an ethnic minority, you are a racist. Enjoy it, rest of world!
I lived in Europe during the Bill years. A Dem in the White House had no impact on anti-Americanism.
"that's when I realized how much I missed the US and came home because, quite frankly, they were all spoiled a-holes with nothing better to do than berate the US while consuming all of their goods"
Ha. Same experience here. I had to listen to such tediously whinging about what barbarians we all were. But every time some lame Hollywood blockbuster came out, the theater lines were down the street. Every time a US dance craze or a song hit, it would be everywhere you turned. If I said I was from Chicago, I'd be questioned at length about Michael Jordan, pizza, Mayor Daley, the Cubs, etc.
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