Friday, May 14, 2004
Cutting across national borders and party lines, Europeans want to see President Bush voted out of office because of their anxieties over the direction he is taking America.
A nine-nation Pew poll taken in March found that European support for Bush and, by extension, the United States, had plummeted since he took office. The president had negative ratings of 85% in France, 57% in Britain, 85% in Germany and 60% in Russia. The Guardian put it more starkly. "Senator Kerry carries the hopes not just of millions of Americans but of millions in nations throughout Europe and the world," the newspaper wrote. "Nothing in world politics would make more difference to the rest of us than a change in the White House." Not that Senator Kerry is seen as particularly dynamic or gifted, or even as especially likely to solve all of America's foreign-policy problems. But he has one irresistible attraction: he is not George Bush. European objections to Mr. Bush include the stolen election in Florida, his proudly aggressive anti-intellectualism and his ties to the religious right. Nor are Europeans thrilled about Mr. Bush encouraging anti-Europeanisms such as people boycotting French wine to protest the French Iraqi position and Senator Kerry being ridiculed for speaking French. But, more importantly, they question his American-centric, us-or-them worldview, lack of interest in listening to his allies and diverging from European positions on a host of international treaties. They find his very simplistic view of the world as being dangerous. "The thing that Europeans cannot understand is how you can vote for a liar," said Peter Schneider, a German essayist and novelist. "Here is somebody who lies about something that leads to a war where tens of thousands of people's lives are involved."
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A nine-nation Pew poll taken in March found that European support for Bush and, by extension, the United States, had plummeted since he took office. The president had negative ratings of 85% in France, 57% in Britain, 85% in Germany and 60% in Russia. The Guardian put it more starkly. "Senator Kerry carries the hopes not just of millions of Americans but of millions in nations throughout Europe and the world," the newspaper wrote. "Nothing in world politics would make more difference to the rest of us than a change in the White House." Not that Senator Kerry is seen as particularly dynamic or gifted, or even as especially likely to solve all of America's foreign-policy problems. But he has one irresistible attraction: he is not George Bush. European objections to Mr. Bush include the stolen election in Florida, his proudly aggressive anti-intellectualism and his ties to the religious right. Nor are Europeans thrilled about Mr. Bush encouraging anti-Europeanisms such as people boycotting French wine to protest the French Iraqi position and Senator Kerry being ridiculed for speaking French. But, more importantly, they question his American-centric, us-or-them worldview, lack of interest in listening to his allies and diverging from European positions on a host of international treaties. They find his very simplistic view of the world as being dangerous. "The thing that Europeans cannot understand is how you can vote for a liar," said Peter Schneider, a German essayist and novelist. "Here is somebody who lies about something that leads to a war where tens of thousands of people's lives are involved."
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