The Big Chill

Bush arrives in Ol' Yurp today and the reception, even from the likes of Merkel, Sarkozy, Burlusconi and Brown, is unlikely to be overwhelming.

Far from the victory tour he no-doubt could have imagined back in the day, Bush will be greeted by skepticism, bewilderment, frustration and, in some cases, utter contempt.

As the Guardian UK outlines:

"While the leaders will be generous and polite towards a US president who has plumbed unprecedented depths of unpopularity in Europe as well as in America, there is no doubt that the overall mood will be one of good riddance."

Even though the article mentions the rising anticipation of an Obama presidency (and how much Europe longs for such) the skeptisism arcs the political divide, an Obama administration may be seen as a breath of fresh air but Americas lurch toward imperialist ambitions may be irreversible:

"An optical illusion may be influencing our opinions: the comforting idea that the real problem is George Bush and not America," a German commentator on America, Josef Joffe, wrote last week. "Why is this a mental delusion? First, because anti-Americanism is older than the younger Bush. Second because Obama (probably) comes, but the superpower stays. America, this steam hammer of a nation, is fundamentally a destroyer."

Blimey...!!!!