Be Afraid, You Cheese Nibblers!

Now it seems that there is a fair amount of skepticism among European governments as to Obama's level of experience. I wonder if they're comparing with Bush, or with some ideal? The most "experienced" person in this administration is Cheney -- I rest my case. At any rate, Europeans are famous for their level of cynicism regarding government and politicians -- at least compared to Americans, where everyone has to be a rock star and have great hair, perfect teeth, and a wife who's a babe. Of course, Europe has its rock stars too, like Sarkozy (and wife), Blair, and Berlusconi, but none of them has enjoyed the "Teflon effect" that our presidents seem to enjoy. Maybe it's because Europeans assume that the person in charge really is in charge -- whereas over here, especially in Bush's case, we know better. At any rate, the jaded, tired, euro-whipped Europeans seem singularly unimpressed by Obama, which makes me wonder how worried they are that he might actually get in. The day has long since passed when American politics constituted a meritocracy -- now it's all spin, all the time. This somehow doesn't sit quite right with Europe. Not only that, but they don't enjoy the legacy of cordial relations between the races that we do. How can DNA be _the_ determining factor in almost any political question, they ask? Well, we'll show them how, no problem. We talk about how Europe is still under the cloud of the follies of World War I and the brutality of World War II. But they look at our "identity politics" and race-mongering and shake their heads in disbelief. They look at the way we fall on Israel's funeral pyre before _they_ even fall on it, and roll their eyes. And then they look at the way the American economy is being sold off to China and India and wonder, are these people totally insane? So maybe we could use a bit of their Old World skepticism, to replace the utopian delusional system that has served us so well throughout our history. The main point is, the rest of the world -- and Europe in particular -- sees us as the town bully who has developed a brain tumor, and who is therefore even more volatile and unpredictable than usual. So does it matter, really, who's nominally in charge? Perhaps not, but according to their standards it should. Yes, they expect us to conform to their standards of political leadership -- but hey, this is America, and we're above all that.