World View of US Role Goes From Bad to Worse

[Democratic Hawk]

Sad , but not surprising. Better a nation be respected, than reviled. The US used to be widely respected

As for George W Bush is concerned, look at it this way, he hasn't helped

Dave

[Democratic Hawk]

I'd love to see polls if the US tried doing the opposite of what it's doing now or doing nothing at all. I suspect the poll numbers would be exactly the same.

I'd like to see polls of the US with basically any other president whatsoever, because I suspect that those poll numbers would be inevitably higher.

Indeed

Yesterday in a column in the Daily Mirror in an article by Gavin Esler, who is a BBC Newsnight presenter and former Chief North America Correspondent, wrote:

It is one thing to disagree with Bush policy, but it is far more damaging when the president of the most powerful country of the world is dismissed routinely as a joke

There is, undoubtedly, some truth in that. Whether Americans like it or not, the US President is, in reality, much more than the President of the United States of America

Would it not be better for America to have a president, who commands respect on an international level, than to have one, who seems to just elicit ridicule and contempt? Doesn't American prestige matter any more?

And I speak as an Americophile

Dave