The American Conservative, March 27, 2006
"This is not an easy time to be American. Your motives are questioned, actions vilified, values mocked. Many Americans venturing overseas feel that they are held to be culpable merely for the sound of their accent. There is a grave danger in this visceral hostility. The number of Americans who believe the United States should mind its own business and let other countries get along on their own has leapt in only three years from 30 percent to 42 percent..."
This editorial comes from the London Times, a Murdoch paper to be sure, but one which made a lot of sense, as far as I'm concerned. Many American Winter Olympians must have felt the chill. Never have I heard louder cheering than when tiny Finland outskated and outscored the good old U.S. of A., whose hockey players concentrated on body checks rather than accurate passing and precise shooting. David versus Goliath fans would have had a field day. One side was big, strong and tried to bully their opponents into making mistakes. The other was smart, swift and relied on skill rather than brawn. I don't think I have ever rooted against America, but this time I did--just as I rooted against the bragging Bode Miller, who despite being among the favorites in Torino, ended up with egg on his face.
Yes, I'm afraid it is a lousy time to be an American abroad. Actually, there's more anti-Bushism than anti-Americanism. I live in Switzerland and England for seven to eight months a year, the rest in New York. I have never seen it so bad, not even during the closing days of the Vietnam War. At least back then we had a big Soviet bear to worry about. Europeans may be lazy and laid back, but they knew whose tanks or bombs would stop the commies if they ever crossed over into Western Europe. For some strange reason Saddam Hussein's legions have never impressed old Europe. Nor have the Taliban. Ergo, Uncle Sam is now seen as just a big bad bully shoving people around, and if the good uncle can get poor little me angry at his meddling, just think what he's done for traditional American haters.
Mind you, there's more. Bush's lopsided foray into Iraq started the disenchantment among many Euros who love and admire America. But then came the Bush style, reflected by his cabinet and his advisers, the dreaded neo-cons. This churlish, unchivalrous manner offends many Europeans. I have just finished debating at the Oxford Union, against the motion that "Hurricane Katrina blew away the myth of U.S. racial equality." I was put through the grinder for defending the government and putting the blame where it belonged: the local kleptocracy.
No one wanted to know. America, according to the Oxford crowd, is a racist bully who kills Iraqis like flies and lets black Americans die because they're black. Although my side lost gracefully, we all sensed that there was more to it than just Katrina. In the United States the top ten percent income earners receive six times that of the lowest ten percent. This earning gap is staggering for most Europeans, especially students ready to go out in the cruel world. In the old continent, the richest ten percent earn only three times that of the lowest ten percent.
Much of the aversion toward America is not against the culture, traditions or values. Many Europeans claim the same values for themselves. The antagonism emanates from a fervent dislike of those who were behind the unilateral and duplicitous aggression in Iraq. Basically the neo-cons. Now word is out that Washington wants to get tougher--with Iran, this time, now that the administration has learned the difference between the two neighboring countries. Alas, the lessons from Iraq have obviously not sunk in. The "war on terrorism" has now become "the long war", a fact my colleague Pat Buchanan predicted three years ago.
It is a very typical American belief that assertiveness and threats are essential macho qualities. And this administration is particularly macho and proud of it. Yet bombing Iran would not only escalate the conflict between Islam and the West, it would help recruit terrorists and suicide bombers in untold numbers. Even the threat of an attack is encouraging Muslims to enlist. And the argument does not hold water. Even if Iran did develop nuclear weapons--and they are far away in the future--the theory goes it would attack Israel. But Iranians are not crazy, nor does any Iranian leader wish to commit national suicide. The idea is as ludicrous as the one which had it that Saddam was 45 minutes away from attacking us with WMD.
Spite and vindictiveness against America on the part of Europeans hardly seems sensible. Yet the powers that be in D.C. are not helping. Trying to please hard liners in Israel by starving the Palestinians--because they democratically elected Hamas--is terrorism in itself, or so many fair-minded people see it. The Ugly American is back on the warpath, I'm afraid.