On Outside Looking in the World Talks About Bush

[Joanne98]

For almost all Europeans, this is a very unpleasant idea, but we should get used to it," the paper's editorialists admonished.

The reason, they said, was that "despite all his flaws, he comes over as a strong leader and John F. Kerry doesn't." This is not the dominant sentiment abroad, as Kerry, too, has many admirers, and Bush many detractors. But owing to broad indications that Bush has inched ahead in public opinion polls this week, many commentators appeared to be hedging, if only to prepare themselves for a whisker-close race.

Political historian Timothy Garton Ash, who is pointedly anti-Bush, told The Guardian's readers in his essay on "the world election" that non-Americans "are not such impotent bystanders at the ringside" as they might think. "Yes, we don't have a vote. Yes, if we shout too loudly for Kerry it may help his opponent. "But most Olympic contenders testify to the importance of the crowd. And this election, unusually for an American election, is as much about events and reactions outside America's borders as about anything at home," he said. The French press at the close of Bush's political hurrah in New York was full of undisguised sarcasm, much of it relegated to inside pages as the French concentrated on the imminent release of two journalists held hostage in Iraq and a horrific hostage drama in Russia.

In its main article, Le Figaro referred to Bush as "the Texan" who stood astride the canyons of Manhattan "like a block of certainty, who sees the world in black and white" and who appointed himself "the self-assured head of the resistance of good against evil." In Le Monde, a commentary by Dominique Dhombres noted, "In accepting the Republican ticket for the Nov. 2nd election, George Bush bets everything his self-appointed role as fighter in chief against global terrorism. Iraq is mentioned in passing, like a mere episode in a global war" and "it has been a long time since there was talk about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in this country, the official motive to start the war." In Italy, the country's largest newspaper, Corriere della Sera, said, "The crowning of 'King George II' at Madison Square Garden was a triumph for the right in terms of image and electoral propaganda. Not even Ronald Reagan, the party's idol, ever had a similar welcoming." But the Italian editorialists said that Bush's lofty tone, "marked by notes of reconciliation, will not be enough to unify an America that has not been so divided since the Vietnam War."

http://www.iht.com/articles/537304.htm

Maybe we can get some help from afar.

[MrPrax]

1. ""despite all his flaws, "

Flaws too numerous to cite, flaws too numerous to comprehend...

Don't burn all your bridges fellow Progressives...

"Thus the left-leaning La Repubblica of Rome observed: If a visitor from Mars had watched the two conventions, first "the gentle, prudent and goodie-two-shoes convention of the Democrats in Boston in July, and now the angry, growling, bilious convention of the Republicans in Manhattan, he would have to conclude that John Kerry is the President and George Bush the challenger."