While the rightwingers are laughing at President Obama and Democrats for their losses in the mid term elections, the Europeans are laughing at THEM! Well maybe not laughing, more like scared, puzzled, in disbelief Americans are so STUPID as to put Republicans back in power, no matter how slight, but to give those disastrous Republicans a majority after just 2 short years of trying to get past the horrific actions of the Bush administration.....after those destructive policies... it's just too much for the Europeans to grasp...
From Alter Net
Like the rest of the world, Europe cheered the election of Barack Obama as a change from the economic and foreign policy disasters of his predecessor. Yet just two years later the US government is returning to Bush-lite. How could this be, Europeans are wondering? The American electorate is looking like a coyote with its leg caught in a trap, chewing its own leg off to get out of the trap.
Europeans are puzzled by the success of the populist Tea Party movement, which seemingly wants to roll back the last two years and return to how things were at the end of the Bush-Cheney years. Even conservatives in Europe are scratching their heads over their transatlantic allies -- “Americans don’t want health care??? How can these Tea Party people say ‘Get government out of my Medicare -- don’t they know Medicare IS a government program???”
Christian Stoffaes who is chairman of the Center for International Prospective Studies based in Paris, stated the United States is in disarray, extremely polarized. It is practically a civil war there and you can't count on it.
THIS statement by Stoffaes is because of the rightwing extremists takeover,
There is a widespread view that the US is being consumed by the severity of the Great Recession, brought on by a broken Wall Street capitalism, as well as by the quagmires of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, and an inability to change course. Brought on by the Bush administration and because of republican obstructionism, increasingly difficult for President Obama to move forward his agenda. I do take into account this administrations problems when it comes to the wars and the policies the left wants Obama to stand firm on. I don't give the president a free pass, he can change course if he so chooses....
Previously, Obama’s failure at the Copenhagen summit on climate change to deliver a serious commitment to that agenda, and instead to strike a deal with the Chinese to do next to nothing, was a real wakeup call to the Europeans. It was as if they suddenly “got” it, that it wasn't George W. Bush who was the problem, but something more profound about America’s broken political system that prevents any leader, even one as talented as Obama, from delivering. That political system is marinated in money, is paralyzed by a “filibuster-gone-wild” Senate that has allowed a minority of Senators to obstruct all legislation, and is hamstrung by a sclerotic, winner-take-all, two-party electoral system that has left voters poorly represented and deeply frustrated.
This is what the conservatives of Europe are saying about us! The world is afraid of what America is turning into....Now, in the aftermath of the recent election, the European media landscape is screaming with headlines like: “Is the American Dream Over?”, “A Superpower in Decline,” “Deep divisions across political map,” “Power gridlock looms between parties,” “Washington turns into a battleground,” and “Elections tarnish Obama's world image.” The recent move by the Federal Reserve to jumpstart the U.S. economy by taking steps that will result in the devaluing of the dollar has been met with great skepticism in Europe. Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble has said the Fed's action shows U.S. policy makers are "at a loss about what to do." The American growth model, he said, is stuck in a deep crisis. "The USA lived off credit for too long, inflated its financial sector massively and neglected its industrial base.”
We the people elected Barack Obama because this country needed desperate change. And what do we do, we get impatient and wham, the thugs are back in the majority in the House. Not only are the democrats in this country shaking their heads in disbelief but the rest of the world is too. I know some of you will say President Obama is no different than Bush-Cheney, but Obama is no dummy, he knows what needs to be done to change course. The question is, will he do it?
The predictable American reaction has been, "Europe is one to talk. Have they gotten their PIIGS back in the pen yet?” Certainly Europe has its own challenges. But to the extent that the election of Barack Obama represented an American rejuvenation in the eyes of the world, this recent election represents a further loss of American mojo. Americans may shrug their shoulders and say, "We don't care what the rest of the world thinks"-- but that will only reinforce what the rest of the world thinks.
This "we don't care about the rest of the worlds perception of us" is rightwinger talk. We better start caring about our reputation, and we better start caring about our country and her people before we let the wingnuts take us to a place we will never recover from....
I don't believe the mid term losses for the Democratic Party mean a loss of American mojo either. The voters were not voting out of a love for the republicans, they were voting out of a frustration the democrats were not fighters for the progressive agenda this country wants. You can go right ahead and deceive yourselves into believing otherwise righties. This country wants Obama to be more progressive, to be a fighter against the destructive republicans and what they are gonna try and do in the next 2 years. The world will be watching in disbelief.....
