An International Businessman's Perspective on the Popular Mr. Obama
Just had an interesting conversation with an international businessman about our President-elect.
Adam Ginsberg, author of How to Buy, Sell and Profit on E-Bay, conducts training seminars and sells software that helps people to create and market their own web sites and internet-based businesses.
He travels around the world, including to England, Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia, hosting seminars and selling products. A McCain supporter in the general election, Ginsberg maintains that politicians "should be less interested in creating jobs, more interested in creating opportunities."
But in recent months, his view that the election of Barack Obama was an unfavorable outcome has shifted. The reason? Based on his experiences lately speaking to large crowds about becoming internet entrepreneurs, he believes Obama's election has spurred the masses, not only in the U.S. but around the world, to regain their faith in the U.S. and, more importantly, in their own potential.
"When I get up in Indonesia and Malaysia and Singapore and Australia and say, 'Yes we can,' people go wild," he says.
Traveling around the world, he also finds audiences much more positive towards the United States than he did before Mr. Obama's election.
"People outside the U.S. look at us as leaders, and for whatever reasons, the world doesn't like George Bush," he says. "It could be Bush is just a scapegoat. But I think the world looks at the U.S. as a bully. But since [Obama's election] they think of the U.S. as a leader. You need a leader to be someone you can look up to, and relate to, and they relate to Barack Obama."
Part of what is interesting about Ginsberg's observations is his acknowledgment that much of the hatred of George W. Bush may be irrational and reflect an oversimplification of the problems our current president had to deal with, as well as media bias.
Nevertheless he believes that many ordinary people around the world have renewed faith in the U.S. and in their abilities, as individuals, to achieve great things, that this attitudinal shift can be traced to Obama's election, and that it will be good for the U.S. He says it's been good for his business, too.
All of this is lovely; still, it seems to me somewhat concerning in the way the more over-the-top anger and even hatred of Mr. Bush was, in that it seems, like that hatred, to be based on subjective perceptions and the emotions they create rather than on a deep grasp of complex issues. Like him or not, one of President Bush's defining qualities was his ability to stand firm against the current of public opinion both nationally and internationally.
Some would argue that this quality led to poor policy. But in at least two cases (the successful surge strategy in Iraq and support for Israel's decision to build a security fence that has saved countless lives), it has enabled Bush to show strong and effective leadership.
Soon President-elect Obama will face problems similar to those faced by President Bush. Problems like international terrorism directed against Americans and others, and Iran's push for nuclear capability, will require tough decisions that are likely to produce problematic, possibly messy outcomes. Let's hope Mr. Obama's international popularity will survive the reality of his responsibilities as leader of the free world.
But even more importantly, let's remember what most of us learned around the time we left high school: popularity is not everything. It is neither proof nor disproof of character or ability. Like anything, it can be a tool for good or ill. Let's support Mr. Obama and hope he has the inner strength to do what is right for our country, whether or not it happens to be popular.
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"for whatever reasons, the world doesn't like George Bush," he says. "It could be Bush is just a scapegoat"
The world doesn't care about the American healthcare system or crappy infrastructures. It's of no concern to foreigners whether you guys pay high taxes or not.
However the world cares about the innocent people whom Bush's America has killed and maimed around the ME in a war based on lies that has created more terrorists than ever.
However the world cares about a financial crisis which Bush's America has created because of AAA grades on crappy financial packages.
However the world cares about Bush's America refusing to sign the Kyoto protocol.
Yes, the world hates Bush, with the exception of Ben Laden and Al Quaida, who must love him dearly considering the hard work Bush has been doing to promote them and destroy America.
"just a scapegoat" ? Seriously ?
Heather,
There is nothing irrational about hatred of what George W. Bush and the Republican party have done. They took us to war based on fraudulent evidence and lies.
This was a serious betrayal of the public's trust and should be punished with some serious jail time.
Regards,
So you noticed: It is always crowded when the band wagon starts to roll. It is always a lonely position to stand apart and watch it roll by. George Bush made plenty of mistakes, but there were no more terrorists attacks in the USA after 9/11; the fence in Israel has been effective against suicide bombers, because letting Israel do what it needs to do for itself, in its own defense, has not been one of those mistakes. Every recent American president has wanted to be the one who "solves" the Mid-east problem---other than Bush, no one's been willing to let Israel deal with its own enemies, and that will NEVER work--and Bush knows this. History, not liberal mass hysteria, will judge this president more fairly. ---Marylin Pitz
"So you noticed: It is always crowded when the band wagon starts to roll. It is always a lonely position to stand apart and watch it roll by. George Bush made plenty of mistakes, but there were no more terrorists attacks in the USA after 9/11;"
Bull hockey. That is simply idiotic. Clinton did not have a single terrorist attack in the USA since 1991 if you want to play fake reality. The USS Cole and teh Embassey don't count if you are only counting attacks *in* teh USA and not attacks "on* teh USA.
And if you are counting attacks *on* the USA, there have been dozens of terrorist attacks each and every day since 2003. Th eonly difference is that Clinton attempted to negotiate and stop the attacks and get to the root cause. Bush simply giftwrappedour troops, gave them shoddy equipment and delivered them to teh terrorists to make it easier for Bin Laden et al to attack them.
Oh please, what universe are you living in?
US deaths on 9/11: 2974
US deaths after 9/11 caused by terrorists (Iraq only): 4216
Bush made the civilians in the US safe by throwing away the lives of the military. But I guess military men and women are worth less to you than civilians, right?
In traveling around the world, prior to the outcome of the 2008 US presidential election, what was fascinating to me was the world's view of John McCain - that being a McCain presidency would simply mean 4 more years of George Bush. This, as told to me by people in both small and big cities around the world, is clearly a case of media driven politics.
Regardless of your political opinion of George Bush, or John McCain, the only insight a cab driver in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia - who barely speaks english - would have about the presidential nominees is what he or she sees on television and reads in the media.
In probing deeper into these comments the answer to "Why do you feel that way" ended up validating this clear case of media bias. One person, in speaking for many, said "because of what I read in the newspaper and heard on television (mostly from the International desk of CNN)".
The reality is this - regardless of your whether you're pro-Bush or thought Bush was the worst president in American history, the world has rallied behind the concept of "hope". America is once again looked upon as the great land of hope and opportunity because Barak Obama has inspired more than just a nation - but a planet to rally behind making a positive change in the world. Let's just hope he can live up to the massive expectations people have of him.
Did you expect Brown to be a total break from Blair? It isn't that surprising that folks figure the successor in the same party as the candidate replaced will have similar policies, and only a different party will be that different.
"...much of the hatred of George W. Bush may be irrational..." Actually, most of the hatred of George Bush, whether it be domestic or foreign, is entirely rational. What's irrational is that some people (hint, hint) continue to believe that his disdain for what his own country and the rest of the world thought about his policies actually constituted a strength on his part. Good and final riddance to him.
"[T]he hatred of George W. Bush" is completely well-founded. Little George did bad things, and many people suffered, and will continue to suffer, because of him.
Oh my lord. You cannot seriously still be a Bush apologist after everything that has happened in the last 8 years.
"Popularity" has nothing whatsoever to do with the 70% of the American people who think that George W. Bush is one of the worst presidents in American history.
"... the more over-the-top anger and even hatred of Mr. Bush was, in that it seems, like that hatred, to be based on subjective perceptions and the emotions they create rather than on a deep grasp of complex issues."
You have got to be kidding.
Methinks that being responsible for a war that never should have happened and was based on lies, in which over 4,000 of our military men and women die, tens of thousands are maimed and brain-damaged for life, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis die, millions of Iraqis are made homeless, an entire country is reduced to rubble, the Muslim world hates our guts (yes, many times more than they did before), and there are MORE terrorists than there were before (and let's not even talk about the many other things like reducing our country to one that tortures, wiretaps its own citizens without warrants, and makes the Department of Justice the personal enforcement arm of the Republican party, for only three of dozens of egregious high crimes and misdemeanors) - that all those things make a president DESERVING of hatred. MORE deserving of hatred than any president in American history by far.
Give me a break. You give Bush too much credit and your reading of current events is way off base. The successful surge was the result of buying off the Sunnis and the so-called Israeli security fence - really a wall - destroyed Palestinian communities because the Israelis built much of it on Palestinian land. If the Israelis want the Palestinians to stop attacking them they might want to consider giving up their settlements on the West Bank, which is Palestinian land. The Israeli Prime Minister Olmert has suggested that that would be the wise thing to do....
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