PrintJuly 5, 2008
Deification of Obama in Europe
It's bad enough we have our own Obama worshippers here in the United States. But when Europeans catch the Obama bug, Americans who are thinking of voting for him should look long and hard at why the Continent is so much in thrall to the Democrat:
Spend a few days in western Europe talking about American politics and you discover that you are in deepest Obamaland. Not much different from Berkeley, California, or the South Side of Chicago.
As a woman put it to me in Paris: "We want America back.''"Why does that mean Obama?'' I asked her. Her response: "We think he's the black Kennedy.''What's driving Obama frenzy in Europe? Is it ideology? The educated, well-informed Europeans I met were not entirely sure what Obama stood for. "Is he a socialist?'' they asked. "I don't think he would accept that label,'' I told them.They worried a little bit about Obama's views on trade. "Is he a protectionist?'' they wondered. "He calls himself a free trader,'' I said, "just like John McCain, although he has been more critical of trade agreements like NAFTA.''Europeans are not especially anti-McCain. I asked my British informant what kind of response McCain drew when he visited London. "Nothing,'' he responded. "We see McCain as another old man. Just like our politicians.''Europeans believe their politics has become old, tired, unexciting. Which is, fairly or unfairly, their image of McCain.To his European fans, Obama is the symbol of American renewal. They know three things about him. That he is young. That he is African-American. And that he has a Muslim name.
It appears our European cousins are even more superficial than we are. And when Europeans talk about wanting America "back" what they mean is they want America to be subservient to them, to just have us step aside and let them run the world. This is especially true in France who fondly recall JFK getting boxed around by DeGaulle over nukes, NATO, and Africa.
The myth that Bush has gone off on his own and practices "Cowboy diplomacy" is well entrenched now thanks to a leftist European press who never gets around to reporting all of the issues that GWB and our European allies are cooperating over. Afganistan is a NATO operation. Our cooperation over sharing intelligence on terror cells and suspects is outstanding. On Iran, we have pushed Germany, France, and Great Britain to the forefront of negotiations over nukes. On AIDS in Africa, Darfur, the Congo, North Korea, Somalia, nuclear proliferation - all of those issues, the US under Bush has sought to involve our allies and the United Nation. Even climate change has seen the president alter his position so that it mirrors the European efforts.
What the hell are these people's beef? They don't have a legitmate one. But when you are fed a steady diet of big bad America running off half cocked on its own with no regard for international cooperation, you get an ignorant population with no knowledge of the reality of the situation.
Wake up you numbskulls! You have been bamboozled and are too lazy to figure out for yourselves you've been had. Obama will be worse than Carter. And you remember how much you loved and respected the peanut farmer, right?
I swear by the time the press is through with Obama, he will be able to run for God.
