Bush's Foreign Policy Increasingly Isolationist
We're running out of allies. And Tony Blair is in trouble. In the end, unilateralism, described by some as simply going it alone, is just a fancy word for isolationism. Here's a poll discussed by the British paper, The Independent:
George Bush's beleaguered foreign policy has been dealt a serious blow as a poll showed that Americans and Europeans reject the US President's pursuit of the "war on terror".As has often been noted, George W. Bush doesn't play well with others.
For the first time in its five-year existence, the Transatlantic Trends opinion poll found that more Americans opposed President Bush's handling of international affairs - 58 per cent - than approved of it - 40 per cent.
The survey, conducted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, provides a devastating commentary on the failure of President Bush and Tony Blair to convince the public of the merits of the "war on terror".
President Bush's approach has been shown to be increasingly unpopular, despite the fact that citizens on both continents share a growing fear of terrorism. European opposition to US foreign policy has risen over the past five years from 56 per cent to 77 per cent.
Since 2002 the proportion of Europeans who view US leadership in world affairs as desirable has reversed, dropping from 64 per cent positive then, to 37 per cent in yesterday's survey.
posted by Craig at 3:48 PM
4 Comments:
This wildly inaccurate statement shouldn't have gotten past a copy editor:
"The survey, conducted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, provides a devastating commentary on the failure of President Bush and Tony Blair to convince the public of the merits of the 'war on terror.'"
Britons and Americans require no convincing about the need to conduct a war on terror. What's failed is the suspension of disbelief Bush, Cheney and the right-wing noise machine managed through 2004 about the Iraq war, armed as they were with 200 million corporate and Republican dollars, unscrupulous character assassins like the swiftboat vets, and the White House's ability to manipulate news.
Like the poet's One Hoss Shay, Bush & Co.'s con job about the Iraq war ran strong until it fell completely apart. The best I can tell, that happened in August 2005.
Bush's foreign policy reflects the thinking of a not especially well educated and informed, chauvinistic business executive with little or no concept of putting himself in the other person's shoes and then carefully considering how a situation looks.
That's going to make Bush a tough act to have to follow for the next president.
S.W. wrote: "What's failed is the suspension of disbelief Bush, Cheney and the right-wing noise machine managed through 2004 about the Iraq war, armed as they were with 200 million corporate and Republican dollars, unscrupulous character assassins like the swiftboat vets, and the White House's ability to manipulate news."
In a nutshell, that sums things very well. "Suspension of disbelief." Ouch.
Bush's social security bamboozlement was also a factor in early 2005; I think the dishonesty of what he was saying shocked a lot of people since his dishonesty finally touched on something they understood: their own back pockets.
So a majority of Americans are now disenchanted with the way the "War on Terror" is being waged. Good.
Will they have the sense to link this perfectly valid conclusion to their upcoming votes for Congress?
Euzoius, you ask the two-trillion question. Two trillion dollars could easily be the cost of a yet a third war, this one with Iran.
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