No wonder Europe loves us now

11 Oct, 2009 by Cassy Fiano

Print this article Font size -16+

In the most unsurprising news ever, the United States is now beloved by the world again. Everyone celebrate!

The United States is the most admired country globally thanks largely to the star power of President Barack Obama and his administration, according to a new poll.

It climbed from seventh place last year, ahead of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan which completed the top five nations in the Nation Brand Index (NBI).

“What’s really remarkable is that in all my years studying national reputation, I have never seen any country experience such a dramatic change in its standing as we see for the United States for 2009,” said Simon Anholt, the founder of NBI, which measured the global image of 50 countries each year.

He believes that during the previous administration of George W. Bush the United States suffered in the world ranking with its unpopular foreign policies but since Obama was elected, and despite the recent economic turmoil, the country’s status has risen globally.

“There is no other explanation,” Anholt said in an interview, referring to the impact of Obama.

The global survey, conducted by GFK Roper Public Affairs & Media, involved 20,000 people in 20 rich and developing countries around the globe. They were asked to rate 50 nations in categories such as culture, governance, people, exports, tourism, landscape and education.

And hey, guess who else has risen in the global popularity rankings? Those ethical do-gooders, China. They score low on human rights and the environment, but gosh darn it, they’ve just got such great culture!

Now, why might the world love the United States again? As Neal Boortz pointed out, it’s because we’re weaker.

This one is not too hard to figure out. We go back to the Pew Research poll conducted in Europe in 2008. That poll showed that nearly 60% of Europeans wanted the United States to be weaker. They didn’t like the US being as strong in economic and worldwide political affairs as we were. Soooooo … along comes Barack Obama, and at every turn he projects American weakness. He trashes the European missile defense system. He kowtows to Russia’s Putin. He absolutely fails to take a strong stance on Iran and their nuclear ambitions. He disengages from Iraq and continues to show indecisiveness in Afghanistan. The shrinks at the sight of Hugo Chavez. He won’t meet with the Dalai Lama because it might make the Chinese mad. Weakness at every turn … just exactly what the respondents to the poll said they wanted! A weaker United States!

So now our popularity in Europe is on the way up! Really tough to figure out why, isn’t it?

Barack Obama has led us to change, all right — change from a global superpower and the strongest, most powerful country in the world to a country that is weak enough to make Europeans swoon and France look tough.

Still glad you voted for Obama??

Hat Tip: House of Eratosthenes

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on !