And more questions

I was on the ICE train from Brussels to Frankfurt reading the Australian magazine, The Monthly, with the cover article by Peter Conrad titled "Obama: Too Good For America?"  When I put the magazine down, the two Germans across from me asked what my opinion was of the U.S President.  I answered by asking them what their opinion was.

So they told me.  It seems that Europeans really like Obama.  None of the EU countries are as multicultural as the U.S. is.  None have the percentage of their citizens that are of different races than the U.S.--African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Native Americans.  None have the number of first and second generation immigrants than the U.S.  Yet Americans seem to understand little of the world outside of their own country, and when they do speak of the outside world, it usually is stated in terms of America's control of the course of world events.  To Europeans this is heard as the American "might makes right" philosophy.  Unlike the second President Bush, Obama has moved America back into the world community of nations

Obama has a more realistic comprehension of the present position of the U.S. in the world, and he also understands that, as Peter Conrad wrote, there is no longer any part of the world that is non-American.  While American culture is omnipresent, and America is militarily as powerful as it ever has been, the U.S. does not seem to be as threatening with Obama as its leader.  At least that was their opinion.  Perhaps Obama is too good for America.  But what they could not understand was the number of Americans who, it seemed to them, were greatly un-informed and supportive of the extreme right-wing of the Republican party.

They were amazed that so many Americans could not accept climate change, could have such archaic attitudes concerning the rights of women, minorities, and the poor, and especially be so supportive of the growing income inequality in the country.

It was difficult and took much of the rest of the train ride to try to explain the completely foreign concept of "American Exceptionalism".  Foreign to them, and probably to you too.  But that is for another time.