Bush's PR Problem (Loss to Leninist leader on world stage)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27057-2003Dec1.html

President Bush's Thanksgiving trip to Iraq was a generous and bold-hearted gesture of support to American troops. What made it such a success, however, was that it managed to severely limit an otherwise unavoidable aspect of travel: contact with foreigners. When Bush has had to go beyond U.S. Army bases in recent weeks, the tours have not gone so well.

Traveling through East Asia last week, I noted how poorly most observers rated Bush's recent trip there. Even more striking, however, was the comparison repeatedly made between Bush's visit and that of Chinese President Hu Jintao -- with a thumping majority believing Hu had done better.

In Thailand at the meeting for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, "there was no question that Hu was the better appreciated one," a Thai official said to me. "He outshone Bush in most of the attendees' eyes." The trips ended with the two making back-to-back visits to Australia. Bush was greeted with demonstrations, his address to Parliament interrupted by hecklers. Hu, on the other hand, got a 20-minute standing ovation from Parliament. "It is Hu's visit rather than George W. Bush's that will provide a lingering sense of satisfaction and security about Australia's place in the region," wrote the Australian, a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch and not given to knee-jerk anti-Americanism.

What is going on here? How does the chief representative of the world's oldest constitutional democracy lose a popularity contest to the leader of a Leninist party?
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idea that the world really wants us to vote bush back to his pig farm?

are held in higher regard around much of the world and even in the US than our own president. Then again, Bush is a coup leader making him only a step away from some Generalissimo or Comandante.

and most of the world sees right through the son of a bitch.

This piece, by Fareed Zakaria, is found in the "Commentary" section of WashingtonPost.com, and would be better suited for the Editorials & Other Articles Forum.

Please feel free to repost this article there.

Thanks!
VolcanoJen
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