Nice post.
I think rather than focusing on whether Europeans "like" our leader, we should focus on whether they believe our leader is strong. Europeans have a history of liking leaders that, in retrospect, maybe they ought not to have liked. Not just the fascists, but weak leaders like Neville Chamberlain. They believe in discussion and compromise, and we are up against a mindset that views discussion and compromise in an opponent as weakness to be exploited.
I haven't studied Kyoto closely enough to comment other than to say that many others thought it was bad as well. Russia's pullout does suggest Bush was not alone there. What is unfortunate, in my view, is that he pulled out and doesn't seem to have proferred an alternative approach to the issues other than to say maybe they don't exist (the evidence, though not 100 percent clear, does seem to suggest there is a significant greenhouse gas problem to be dealt with). I think where Bush could use some improvement is in offering alternatives to the things he opposes.
On the economy he is being blamed for an inherited problem. If you look at our economic history you see that slowdowns in growth precede increases in joblessness by several quarters, and increases in growth precede improvements in unemployment by about that same time period. The last four Clinton quarters were marked by a rapid descent in the growth rate (from 4+ percent to 1.something percent). Every quarter in 2000/early 2001, growth declined significantly. The Nasdaq declined 2400 points in 8 months before Bush took office. No one could have inherited that situation and avoided a slowdown in employment and job creation. And deficit spending is usually the way that government addresses that situation. Throw in 9/11 and the deficit spike seems unavoidable, though he probably could have mitigated it some.
Iraq is something which will divide people for a long time. I think it was the right thing to do though obviously the planning of the occupation phase was not stellar. But to brand him the worst President we've had in generations, or the one who has done the most damage, I just don't see that at all. |
