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Iraq seems like the touchstone, or at least the catalyst, as it has been for so many things. Joel Send a noteboard - 23/10/2012 01:26:44 AM
Bush did an outstanding job of transforming a war against terror that instantly galvanized global support into a war for US hegemony that just as instantly galvanized global opposition. It really is stunning to consider how immense was the immense global goodwill toward America he squandered, and how quickly he did so. The consequences could well reverberate through the rest of the century, as the Mideast sees Iraq as a symbol of US neo-colonialism and the West passively accepts both nuclear proliferation and Chinese and Russian imperialism for no reason except distrust for Americas motives in opposing each. The best approach remains TRs: Speak softly and carry a big stick; unfortunately, America has forgotten how to speak softly and the rest of the West has forgotten how to carry a big stick.

But more than being the prime cause, it is really the biggest sign of the prime cause - he was alienating people with a very autocratic style of leadership and a growing feeling that he was better at the PR side of politics than he was at actually making positive changes.

There was growing discomfort with his closeness to Murdoch as well.

I think all Iraq did was provide a short cut to his end and make his faults more glaring.

It is funny, I usually compare Blair to Clinton as charismatic New (No) Left advocates, but he may have presaged Obama more than he echoed Clinton. Again, my view is from a distance, but it seemed to me Blairs fall was less due to Conservative resurgence than to Labours disillusionment and resulting disaffection. Obama faces similar problems: Great speeches but little policy change, including an almost collusive relationship with the GFCs architects, the people he was elected principally to bring to heel. And, of course, Obama is notorious for being as aloof from Congressmen and even his own aides as Romney is from the public. The end result is the wave of young and first time voters (and donors) who elected him last time have largely abandoned him as he abandoned them.

, Romney, amongst people who can still remember who he is, is just a bit of a joke. The American bloke who came over and said funny stuff without meaning to.

Hopefully he remains no more than that (he still has a ways to go to "out-underperform" Ambassador Kennedy in Britain,) but it frankly does not look good. As noted elsewhere, the consensus is Obama is counting on OH, WI and IA/NV/NH, and since Romney owns (via Bain) the company making Ohios voting machines that may be a disaster. 2000, 2004 and now systematic national GOP effort to make voting Democratic illegal. Back in 2000 there was an Onion article about the UN sending election watchers to monitor US elections, but "the vanguard of democracy" has been reduced to the level the UN is ACTUALLY DOING THAT now.
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Britain, the U.S's tenth closest ally. - 22/10/2012 10:17:25 PM 700 Views
The omission of Canada amuses me. - 22/10/2012 10:47:02 PM 626 Views
As well ask how France ranks so highly. - 22/10/2012 11:13:00 PM 461 Views
I think most Brits would dispute that "singlehandedly" statement. - 22/10/2012 11:17:59 PM 485 Views
I admit I am not British, but have never heard him criticized for anything unrelated to Iraq. - 22/10/2012 11:43:56 PM 565 Views
Iraq speeded up the end of his time on office and the tide of public opinio turning against him - 22/10/2012 11:53:41 PM 422 Views
Iraq seems like the touchstone, or at least the catalyst, as it has been for so many things. - 23/10/2012 01:26:44 AM 560 Views
Iraq wasn't the catalyst - 23/10/2012 08:04:42 PM 473 Views
You likely know better than I, so I will not argue. - 24/10/2012 04:02:13 PM 525 Views
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA - 23/10/2012 02:33:55 AM 482 Views
I think thats slightly unfair to say Labour was brought down as well - 23/10/2012 02:09:43 AM 598 Views
The Turkey statistic is a cause for worry. - 22/10/2012 11:21:44 PM 583 Views
Hasslehoff. - 22/10/2012 11:59:51 PM 461 Views
It's worth noting for everyone that those are outdated results. - 23/10/2012 12:33:56 AM 447 Views
Probably linguistic nuance - 23/10/2012 04:46:31 AM 467 Views
"Americans" vs. "America" - 23/10/2012 04:25:49 PM 453 Views

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