A view from Europe: Anti-European sentiment is on the rise among Republican presidential candidates

[pampango]

in America, raising questions about the fragility of transatlantic ties

Mitt Romney, one of the leading Republican United States presidential candidates, has informed his countrymen over the past few weeks that Barack Obama is working to turn America into Europe. This, one might think, is good news. Presumably it suggests that a unified west is closer to becoming a reality. The president is working for ever greater convergence in the world's greatest alliance.

Romney contends that under Obama, a "European-style welfare state" is America's destiny. Or, in another version of this horrific vision that permeates most of the candidate's campaign speeches, "a European-style entitlement society". Obama, according to Romney, "takes his inspiration from the capitals of Europe; we look to the cities and small towns of America". ... Not to be outdone - candidate Newt Gingrich, in his South Carolina victory speech last Saturday night, detected the emergence of a "brand new, secular European-style bureaucratic socialism" in America.

The Eurobashers on the US right use a few standard leitmotifs to make their case against the "EU-nuchs", whose "values and spines have dissolved in a lukewarm bath of multilateral, transnational, secular, and postmodern fudge", to quote the ironic characterisation of writer Timothy Garton Ash. At times, anti-Europeanism can be quite funny. Especially, when skillfully expressed by George W. Bush who famously said: "The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur."

The question is how seriously to take all of this Eurobaloney? In this Republican presidential primary campaign, Europe has been nothing but a foil. Anti-Europeanism has been a code word for anti-liberalism. At the same time, Americans have long appealed to European politicians not to pander to the anti-US segments of the European public, fearing that fleeting prejudice could turn into lasting chauvinism. ... Should Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and the rest of the Republican candidates really be held to a different standard?

http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/1417/europe-is-a-dirty-word-on-the-us-political-campaign-trail

It must be weird to hear all the bloviating from a political party in a traditional strong ally. It's easy from this side of the Atlantic to tell Europeans to just ignore the pandering that republican presidential candidates engage in, but it is inevitable that this kind of rhetoric must give them something to think about.

[HockeyMom]

1. They all should do a little Genealogy

How many of them can trace their ancestors to Native Americans? The majority of their ancestors were EUROPEANS. Plus, of all people, LDS ROMNEY has to know this because of his religion.

[RainDog]

2. because they hate it that european social democracies make the U.S. look backward

they hate it that people in other nations have expected and demanded that their govts work for the betterment of the majority, not the 1%.

they appeal to the xenophobia of racists and people who don't have an opportunity to travel to see how much better their fellow middle and lower classes have it when people vote for social democrats rather than idiot republican fucks who appeal to hatred.

[Skink]

3. He probably won't want to impose any type of austerity measures then

Good for Mitt.

[dawg]

4. I don't think this plays with anyone but their base.

We might want to turn the U.S. into France or Germany, but the G.O.P. is fighting to turn us into China. Where would you rather live?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

5. What's interesting to me is that we are quick to denigrate their way of live and

style of governance and yet, we are quick to ask them to send their children off to fight our wars.

If I were our European allies and the Republicans win the presidency this year, I would immediately pull my troops out of Afghanistan and any conflict or war of aggression and demand that the U.S. fight its own battles.