McClatchy Newspapers: Bush heads for Europe with heavy baggage

Posted on Fri, Jun. 01, 2007
Bush heads for Europe with heavy baggage
By Matthew Schofield
McClatchy Newspapers

ROSTOCK, Germany - President Bush is to arrive in Europe on Monday faced with a long to-do list, and one over-riding obstacle in the way of all of it: For Europeans, he's the least popular U.S. president in history.

Bush's problems extend beyond public opinion. He's at odds with the leaders of countries east and west, whom he's to meet during a summit of leading industrialized nations at a Baltic seaside resort.

Bush disagrees with the major Western European governments over global warming, and he's at loggerheads with Russian leader Vladimir Putin about the U.S. plan to deploy a ballistic missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. He doesn't appear willing to compromise on either issue.

snip...
On every issue, President Bush's unpopularity makes success seem unlikely.

"Bush is so disliked that he's not even considered anymore," said Franco Pavoncello, a leading analyst of Italian politics. "He's part of the past. Italians have moved beyond him, and now care only about who will replace him."

Opinion polls typically put Bush's approval ratings in European nations between 10 and 20 percent, but they're higher in Italy and much lower in France and Germany. When asked last autumn if the United States should be in a position of world leadership, 37 percent of Europeans said yes, down from the 64 percent who approved of a U.S. leadership role five years earlier.

more...
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/world/17312284.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_world

He's trashed us real good.

I wonder if Blair pays Bush to be his friend?

Bush is aware of the disaffection of west Europeans. During a recent White House meeting with British Prime Minister Blair, Blair joked that in Europe, "anybody who's sitting there inviting a politician in any part of Europe today, if you want to get the easiest round of applause, get up and attack America, you can get a round of applause. If you attack the President, you get a . ..."


Bush cut in and added, "Standing ovation," to laughter.

(heavy baggage)