As we’ve seen, Europe’s reaction to the Tea Party, with the exception of Spain and some in Great Britain, has been tepid at best. Right up until now, Obama reigns supreme and as far as Europeans are concerned, is one of the most popular leaders in the world.
Which is why, according to Sueddeutsche Zeitung columnist Christian Wernicke, the midterm election results have thrown most of Europe for a loop.
For Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Christian Wernicke seeks to explain this befuddling turn of events to German readers. He writes in part:
They’re crazy, those Yanks! That’s what they’re whispering in Europe. After all, who can make sense of it? Illuminated by Obama’s bright light, Washington had only just reemerged from eight years of political darkness. The smart Black president achieved great things. First he saved the world from sinking into a global depression; then he gave his nation historic health reform. But for this, and precisely for this, his people are now punishing him – with a disaster in the congressional elections. No one can possibly understand this level of ingratitude, at least not on the European side of the Atlantic.
Germans have reacted especially strongly, which is understandable when they hear an Alaskan senator-to-be [Joe Miller] recommending the East German model for dealing with illegal immigrants at the Rio Grande to his countrymen, shoot-on-sight orders included. Or when we see photos of a candidate for the House of Representatives who likes to play war games in his off-hours back in Ohio – wearing the uniform of a Waffen SS division that took part in the Holocaust. But what’s overlooked by many Europeans is the fact that neither man was elected on Tuesday.
Still, from such anecdotes, many Europeans, too many, paint themselves a caricature of an America that is confused and has lost its way. Only this distorted image is inaccurate. Europeans must first understand that America is just plain different – and different from what they’d like it to be.
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