Europe to Bush: Go Away ...Even the British Prefer Kerry for President

[ElsewheresDaughter]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/09/27/MNGSK8VLDC1.DTL&type=printable

PARIS -- "Why Bush must be beaten," screamed the headline of Le Nouvel Observateur, a left-leaning French newsweekly. Smaller type above the U.S. president's half profile provided the answer: "His re-election will be a catastrophe for the world and for America."

That sentiment may have been expressed more bluntly than the opinions of many Europeans, yet it captured the passions on this continent over who will occupy the White House come January.

Poised halfway between the political wrangling in Washington over the war in Iraq and the suicide bombs and kidnappings in Baghdad, Europeans have rarely felt so involved in a U.S. presidential race.

Many Europeans, analysts and regular citizens alike, argue that their own security is increasingly at risk, while violence spirals in Iraq and anti- Western hostility hardens in Europe's backyard


snip
Some on the continent have suggested, only half-jokingly, that with one superpower remaining in a globalized world, Europeans ought to have a say in who should be America's next president.

"Americans will choose their president, and the rest of the world will have to live with that decision," said Bernhard May, a senior analyst at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. "All we can do is talk to people."

Perhaps mirroring sentiments on the other side the Atlantic, Europeans who dislike Bush are not necessarily strong supporters of John Kerry.

"Europe is get-rid-of-Bush country, which is not quite the same as Kerry country," said Guillaume Parmentier, head of the Center on the United States at the French Institute for International Relations in Paris.

He said the continent's hostility toward Bush began long before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, dating back to Bush's decision in 2001 to reverse President Bill Clinton's support for the Kyoto Protocol on global warming -- a cherished cause for many European politicians. "Iraq just made it worse," Parmentier added.


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[GCP]

1. "Even the British"??? 70% of them were against the Iraq War

They hate Bush as much as any Frenchman does - they also depsise Tony Poodle Blair and can't wait for him to get voted out. (Although the Tories in charge would be even worse).

[Mr Creosote]

4. The worrying thing is though

that less than 25% of us voted for Labour and they won in a landslide. 70% of us being against the Iraq war may not be enough to get the war criminal out.

[DemExpat]

2. A poll yesterday here in The Netherlands...

9% of Dutch would vote for Bush!
50% would vote Kerry
41% undecided....

:kick:

DemEx

[CBHagman]

3. Contrast that with how Clinton is treated overseas.

The reports were that when Bill Clinton went to Ireland to promote his autobiography, THOUSANDS of people turned out to see him.

Bush goes on a state visit to the U.K., and 100,000 turn out...to tell him to bugger off. The same was true in Ireland, though with smaller crowds of demonstrators (Hey, they have only a few million people there).