Academic

YOU MEAN WE STILL HAVE A REPUTATION PROBLEM? Now, do not confuse me with somebody who cares very ?

By Glenn Reynolds

YOU MEAN WE STILL HAVE A REPUTATION PROBLEM?

Now, do not confuse me with somebody who cares very much what editorialists in Der Spiegel or other outposts of the European chattering classes think of any American president. I could not care less, in no small part because I believe that the interests of such people generally diverge from mine own. I note, however, that many of the cosmopolitan Americans who voted for Barack Obama did so because they were embarrassed by the Bush administration’s reputation among foreigners, particularly European elites. They hated having to explain themselves over dinner in Paris, Brussels, and Frankfurt, and worried that most Europeans would not understand that we are not all unnuanced rubes. I therefore wonder how such people will react if anti-Obama sentiment in Europe grows to the point where they have to explain themselves all over again. Will they rise in Barack Obama’s defense, agree with the foreign critique but deny that they voted for him, or explode from the cognitive dissonance?

The possibilities for hilarity are not small.

And I intend to enjoy them to the max.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on June 29, 2009 (boomark / email).