What's the world thinking?

[whometense]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/07/13/BL2006071300903_pf.html

I wonder about this every single day. Dan Froomkin:

Warren P. Strobel writes for McClatchy Newspapers: "Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Bush's foreign policy has been driven by blunt talk, a willingness to threaten or use military force, and a belief that American power can reorder the world.

" 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality,' a White House aide famously told journalist-author Ron Suskind in 2002.

"Reality has bitten back. . . .

"Virtually every president faces a plethora of global crises, sometimes simultaneously. What's new is that the United States' ability to influence events has shrunk, largely because U.S. troops and treasure remain mired in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Iraq war has diminished foreign confidence in American leadership, according to foreign policy experts and some U.S. officials."

Strobel quotes Gary Samore, a nonproliferation expert who worked in the Clinton White House and is now a vice president of the MacArthur Foundation: "The administration is seen as so deeply wounded by Iraq and by the fading presidency, that a lot of people (in other capitals) are thinking about the next presidency."

[whometense]

1. And I hope no one missed this gem

(also via Froomkin)

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/07/dem_tells_white.html

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) has taken a recent report on White House salaries and turned it into a sharp stick to poke in Republican eyes.

Here's a press release on Emanuel's House floor speech:

Emanuel on White House Director of Lessons Learned

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) released the following statement in advance of delivery on the House floor:

"Mr. Speaker, yesterday the President said we continue to be wise about how we spend the people's money.

"Then why are we paying over $100,000 for a 'White House Director of Lessons Learned'?

"Maybe I can save the taxpayers $100,000 by running through a few of the lessons this White House should have learned by now.

"Lesson 1: When the Army Chief of Staff and the Secretary of State say you are going to war without enough troops, you're going to war without enough troops.

"Lesson 2: When 8.8 billion dollars of reconstruction funding disappears from Iraq, and 2 billion dollars disappears from Katrina relief, it's time to demand a little accountability.

"Lesson 3: When you've 'turned the corner' in Iraq more times than Danica Patrick at the Indy 500, it means you are going in circles.

"Lesson 4: When the national weather service tells you a category 5 hurricane is heading for New Orleans, a category 5 hurricane is heading to New Orleans.

"I would also ask the President why we're paying for two 'Ethics Advisors' and a 'Director of Fact Checking.'

"They must be the only people in Washington who get more vacation time than the President.

"Maybe the White House could consolidate these positions into a Director of Irony."

By the way, those are actual White House jobs...
http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2006/0711nj1.htm

[ProSense]

6. 100K directors; August vacation cut short; and Presidentin' For Dummies

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1618612&mesg_id=1618612

[Blaukraut]

2. Just got off the phone with my mum in Germany

She saw the presser and was appalled at Bush. She already hates Merkel (who doesn't) and thinks she is as dumb as a sack of hammers (who doesn't), she also already knew of Bush's intellectual shortcomings, but this time she is actually horrified and thinks that he is mentally unstable. She tells me that is how he appeared to many viewers over there and it scares them.

[whometense]

3. This is pretty sad, but

I actually found it heartening that people overseas were looking forward to the next presidency. It hints that maybe they haven't - yet - completely written off our entire country. We have to make the next one a good one - and we all know who that means needs to get elected...but at the very least a dem with a good head on his/her shoulders.

[blm]

4. You should post your mom's observations from Germany in GD.

People need to hear what the regular folks from around the world are seeing, too.

[ginnyinWI]

5. those of us who see him more often may not see it,

but it's good to get a fresh perspective. Personally, I can't be objective anymore, I have so much revulsion when I see him on tv.