Given the two candidates for the U.S. presidency, what do Europeans and in this case, Germans, have to look forward to? According to Die Welt columnist Alan Posener, “The good news for Europeans is also the bad news: it won’t make much of a difference who wins.” To put it another way, American leadership as Europeans have come to expect it is over – and weary-sounding Germans will have to pick up the slack.
For Die Welt, Alan Posener writes in part:
The first lesson drawn from Romney’s victory in the primaries is: The Tea Party revolution against the establishment is over. If one bears in mind those who were at times considered favorites – among them a businessman whose program consisted solely of a nine percent flat tax, and a Catholic fundamentalist who questioned the separation of church and state – then Romney, despite his right turn on health care reform and tax cuts, seems like a return to “business as usual.”
When George W. Bush – elected as the advocate of a “humble” foreign policy – announced after 9/11 an agenda that would use America’s position as sole superpower to bring peace to the world through democracy, continental Europeans were appalled. Many longed for a multi-polar world in which the E.U. would have greater influence.
In the eyes of the European public, Obama has mutated from a shining figure to a lesser one. And it turns out that there is only thing worse than aggressive leadership by the United States: the absence of such leadership. Might Romney succeed where Obama has been denied? Could he, like Reagan after the “malaise” noted by Jimmy Carter, infuse America with new confidence and help it gain new global importance? Could Obama accomplish this in a second term?
It’s doubtful on both counts. Whoever leads America during the next four years must above all try and get the economy back on its feet, reform the welfare system and end the bomb-throwing in the domestic political trenches. In foreign policy, the greatest challenge remains relations with the second most powerful country in the world – China. The good news for Europeans is also the bad news: it won’t make much of a difference who wins the 2102 election. Either way, we’re home alone, and not only must we get our house in order, but we have to pay more attention to the neighborhood than ever before.
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