Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Bush's international stature
Bush struck back the other day at Kerry campaign claims that certain world leaders hope Kerry wins in the next election. Just to set the record straight, as someone who has spent 4 years in Europe, I can say categorically that I've never met ANYBODY in Europe has anything but a rabid dislike for George Bush. So, on the question of whether world leaders root for Bush or Kerry in the next election, I should think the answer is obvious.
There's no reason to dance around the FACT that Bush has the lowest international stature of any American president in many years (even Reagan was more popular in Europe, making famous speeches in Berlin about pulling the wall down). What American voters need to consider is whether that matters. If rebuilding bridges to the international community are important, then Kerry should be their man. If not, well, Bush at least enters the running.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that world leaders want Bush to win. They don't, and in a future Bush administration, America will continue to go it mostly alone simply because Bush will have less personal influence with foreign leaders.
Bush struck back the other day at Kerry campaign claims that certain world leaders hope Kerry wins in the next election. Just to set the record straight, as someone who has spent 4 years in Europe, I can say categorically that I've never met ANYBODY in Europe has anything but a rabid dislike for George Bush. So, on the question of whether world leaders root for Bush or Kerry in the next election, I should think the answer is obvious.
There's no reason to dance around the FACT that Bush has the lowest international stature of any American president in many years (even Reagan was more popular in Europe, making famous speeches in Berlin about pulling the wall down). What American voters need to consider is whether that matters. If rebuilding bridges to the international community are important, then Kerry should be their man. If not, well, Bush at least enters the running.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that world leaders want Bush to win. They don't, and in a future Bush administration, America will continue to go it mostly alone simply because Bush will have less personal influence with foreign leaders.
