Soft or Hard Landing for American Decline? (Steve Clemons)

[swag]

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002220.php

One of the unavoidable impressions I got from Europeans and particularly Germans during this trip is that there is widespread regret that America has slipped off its pedestal as a largely benign superpower that promoted liberty and economic opportunity. The dollar's decline against the euro has only reinforced a widespread view that America can't afford its global pretensions any longer. While America remains important, it is clear to everyone that it is less so.

And the Germans are angry at Bush and America as a whole for so badly screwing up a number of collective efforts -- particularly on climate change -- but also in the Middle East. They are angry that Europe is not in a position to fill the void America is leaving and focus their frustration not on their own leadership problems but at the U.S. for undermining the dynamics of global order.

A widespread view among elite Germans and the non-elite normal types I spoke to is that America is in fast decline -- sort of like Britain after World War II. I think that the impressions foreigners have of this decline is "overshooting reality" as there are many substantive realities about America's ability to deploy force and purpose in the world that remain formidable.

But conversation in some serious circles is turning to what Europe can do to help America stabilize in some position of "lesser global stature." There is also a sense that the nation that is filling much of America's previous geopolitical space is China and that Europe feels tension in its strong alliance with U.S. power in decline and its strategic distance from China clearly ascending.

[BlueIris]

1. Ooooh, good post. nt

[melody]

2. As I said on the other post, how is this new?

The Germans, according to polls, have always hated us -- even when we had good, benevolent folk at the helm.
The problem seems to be a bias against the American people, not the government.

[swag]

3. This Pew Poll is just one survey that contradicts what you say:

http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=252

[melody]

6. I can find a poll that says almost anything

What is important is a pattern of opinion from methodologically sound polls taken
over years.

[swag]

7. Well, since you can find a poll that says almost anything,

I invite you to find some methodolically sound polls taken over years that support what you're saying.

Until then, I guess we just have these lousy Pew polls.

[melody]

8. I referenced a book in another thread

It's called the J Curve. That has a lot of poll data of the kind I mean.

Listen, this is nothing personal -- if they don't, they don't, but we shouldn't
blind ourselves to Euro-tribal conflicts. That's what got the Native Americans
into trouble during the 50s.

[swag]

12. Feel free to replicate some of that data here, using "fair use" guidlines, of course.

Thanks.

[melody]

13. Too much work lol

If you don't want to believe it, don't. It remains the case.

I'd suggest you pick up the book if you're interested in the research.

[Spazito]

9. ......

Well done, all I can say to your post is


:thumbsup:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. As I look at countries around the world, I see more

of a "can do" attitude toward scientific and industrial innovation in East Asia, more willingness to experiment politically in Latin America and Eastern Europe, more cultural vitality in Western Europe, and a better social safety net in most industrialized countries.

The U.S. is stuck in a perpetual adolescence, with a dumbed-down pop culture, an overgrown military that it wields like a neighborhood bully, and an attitude that only its problems and interests are worthy of consideration.

And Melody, this level of disdain for the U.S. is NEW, and it is specifically tied to the Bush administration.

[bemildred]

5. There isn't going to be any "soft" landing.

The US government is not capable, as presently constituted, of reforming itself. The history of the last 50 years or so seems to make that quite clear. The problems are structural.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Bush has lifted the veil on America and the world sees us for what we are.

An empire in decline scrambling futilely to hold onto it's diminishing power by resorting to brute force.

I, for one, would be glad to have us join the rest of the world as just another nation without the need to "protect our vital national interests" from all the alleged bogeymen we are told
are coming to take away our SUV's.

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken

[Javaman]

11. train meet brick wall. nt