How much has Bush repaired US image?

[CShine]

WASHINGTON – As part of his quest to show the American people his world-embracing side, President Bush Friday travels for the second time in less than a month to Europe, that hotbed of anti-Bush sentiment. After a string of recent high-profile and generally well-regarded appearances on the global stage, from commemorating D-Day at Normandy to hosting a G-8 summit and winning a new resolution on Iraq at the United Nations, the president might reasonably anticipate a better response than the adamant thumbs down he received earlier this month on the streets of Rome.

But as Mr. Bush visits Ireland to meet with European Union leaders Saturday before heading to a NATO summit in Istanbul, he shouldn't expect much newfound affection from the people, experts here and overseas say. While images of Bush swaying shoulder to shoulder around the multilateralist campfire with world leaders like Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder have won the US and Bush points in some places, the president's global plummet since the war in Iraq to near-pariah status won't be easily reversed, they say.

Moreover, some experts add that what has increasingly taken hold is a divorce in the minds of many people overseas between Bush and America - between an America many foreigners profess to admire and emulate, and a president they sometimes abhor. As a case in point, protests of the Bush attendance at the EU meeting are planned by the historically pro-American Irish.

"Europeans generally have a deep appreciation of America, and it is that America they think should come back, but not Bush's America," says Guillaume Parmentier, director of the French Center on the United States in Paris."But the European public is not going to budge on Bush," he adds. "Perhaps a second term with different priorities would soften the rejection, but the nice words of the last weeks won't change the perceptions."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0625/p02s01-usfp.html

[MaineDem]

1. Excuse me? "Repaired"?

You've got to be kidding me.

At least the article basically answers "he hasn't".

[Judi Lynn]

3. Damned odd choice of words. n/t

[Massacure]

2. He repaired it negative one zillion per cent.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. .............

[Geo55]

5. From their lips to God's ear

Moreover, some experts add that what has increasingly taken hold is a divorce in the minds of many people overseas between Bush and America

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. Better questions...

"Who destroyed the US's image?"
"How much has Bush repaired the damage he's done?"

A little :puke:accountability:puke: if you please.

[lebkuchen]

7. I am traveling in France now and can report that Bush is beyond repair

One French historian in a church in Burgandy told me that there is a TV puppet program in France that continues to perseverate on the pretzel incident. With each episode, Bush has swallowed some other type of food, which protrudes from his throat, hinting at what he is choking on. The historian said the French find the program, and Bush, very funny--both kinds.

The Brits coming to France for vacation think Bush is a buffoon, though they base their opinion on only an iota of the damning information that is out there. Michael Moore's movie will be a huge eye opener for Europe in general, and it certainly won't help Bush's image overseas.

[truthspeaker]

8. as much as the woman repaired my car by crashing into it

what a stupid headline

[daleo]

9. He repaired the U.S. image

About as much as the atom bomb repaired Hiroshima.

[Toucano]

10. Is it April fool's day at the CS monitor? n/t