Others have posted about the damage that the Chimperator and Emperor Cheney have done to the image of the United States abroad - something that has a huge impact on the nation's ability to use so-called "soft power" in negotiations and the advancement of policies. The reality as shown in a new BBC article is that the USA has gone from having an overall positive image abroad to one that is down right terrible and which leads to a subconscious opposition to USA policies. Not that the Chimperator or the wingnuts within the GOP give a damn (a good portion of them I suspect would like to nuke and slaughter all foreigners who disagree with them, especially if they are non-Christian). Hopefully, the next president can turn this trend around, although if McCain is elected and we have a third Bush term, I expect little improvement. here are some highlights:*
The eyes of many peoples and governments in Europe will be on Senators Obama and McCain, as Europe hopes for better things from the next US president. A poll by the UK's Daily Telegraph website in late May showed that in Britain, France, Germany and Russia, more people regarded the United States as a force for evil than for good. Only in Italy did the US fare better. And Senator Barack Obama was the clear preference (52%) across the five countries to be the next US president.
*Iraq was a stake driven into the heart of both transatlantic ties and relations between European governments. It remains, if no longer a stake, then a thorn. President Bush's own standing has been further damaged by the memoirs of his former press secretary Scott McClellan, who said that the Bush administration had misled the world over Iraq with a "political propaganda campaign".
*
European leaders would like to hear that the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is to be closed and that the US will not engage in anything that could be called torture, but this will have to wait for the next president.
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