I think I'm one of the few people qualified to talk about this point I'm going to make, since I was in 5 West African countries during the runup to the election, and watching French News channels every night. By and large, there was more interest in OUR election among Africans than by people in my community (I recognize I'm in liberal south King County, and it was probably a foregone conclusion what people were voting, but anyway...) To a person, every single African person I talked to said that they wanted Obama to win--most because it would show that black people could be President (Some likened it to the end of apartheid in South Africa), some (along with most of the French) because it would mean voting against "Bush Jr." (which I found hilarious). People in West Africa love America, and love the types of programs we're starting there (I don't know much about their origins, but I've heard they were a mandate of W's. That could just be a talking point, though...ijdk) Not one person I met treated me with animosity because I was American. In fact, that was usually the springboard to asking how I planned on voting (since I was in uniform, I couldn't answer...but I did talk to a lot of the French sailors about differences they'd heard about policy and the military). In short, my opinion is that those who hate America didn't start because of anything Bush, W, or Clinton did. We as voters, taxpayers and citizens, otoh, have a responsibility to ensure that our government is serving us, and doing so in a way that is consistent with the laws of the land. If you don't think that invading Iraq was the right thing to do, there was ample opportunity to write/call your representatives before the vote. If you don't like having homeowners bailed out, there is ample opportunity to write/call your representatives. It just seems disingenuous and frankly lazy to claim that a president was horrible because people hate us and want to bomb us.
What about the people that blindly oppose Obama? Blindly opposing him is just as bad as blindly supporting him.
That is some pretty interesting information. I haven't ever traveled to Africa, so it is good to hear people in West Africa like Americans. I have traveled through Europe and I get different responses when it comes to Bush. I have seen and spoken with Europeans that have expressed an uncandid dislike for Bush (to put it mildly). I have traveled to Europe before Bush Jr. and I have to say Bush Jr. brought out more emotions from Europeans than I have ever seen expressed in the past. At times it has made me unconfrotable telling people I am American while traveling abroad. But I understand my contact with people is a small cross section and would hope not every European feels the hatred towards bush that I heard. And it is good to know there are places outside the US where people actually love us.
