Clear-eyed observers predicted it, because they know that despite Obama's election and ensuing apology tour, our "image" hasn't improved. We still think they are surrender monkeys and they still think we are torturers. Stereotypes are stubborn things
Anybody who has lived in Europe knows this old joke:
Heaven is the place where the lovers are Italian, the police are English, the mechanics are German, the cooks are French and the place is run by the Swiss.
Hell is where the lovers are Swiss, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the
police are
German and the place is run by the Italians.
Obama's embarrassing failure in Copenhagen this past week reminded me of the Bernd Debussman article where he asks, What ever happened to the Ugly American? Seems we're not such ugly tourists anymore, based upon the results of a recent global survey. In fact, we now rate the 9th best on the strength of our tipping and attempts to speak the local language.
Despite our improved behavior when visiting foreign lands,much of the rest of the world still sees the US as a racist country. Because of this they are enamored of the idea of Obama.
So how could the Olympic committee reject Obama if he is so loved by the rest of the world?
The answer is, they don't love Obama. They love the idea of Obama. A black man who now sits atop the power pyramid of the most powerful nation on earth. A nation much of the world still deems irredeemably racist. Beloved symbol he may be, but he will never be one of them.
Brazilian President Lula Da Silva, on the other hand, is a genuine man of the left, and he is truly loved by the international set.
Unlike Lula, President Obama will never be more than a totem to them, standing in the museum next to the wax figure of the inarticulate cowboy. To the international left, Obama is still an American, no matter how he strains to ingratiate himself.
President Obama thought that he could just breeze in there and beat out Brazil and their president who has years of street cred in the global community. That doesn't make him an Ugly American, just an arrogant one.
FP - Why Brazil WonBernd Debussman - Ugly American Stereotype
Obama - NYT
RCS - Ron Flatter
