CURL: Global Obama fans outpace local ones

POLITICAL THEATER COLUMN:

Former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright on Thursday delivered some spectacular news to all Americans ashamed of their homeland: With President Obama now in office, you no longer have to pretend you’re not from the States when you summer in Europe.

“It is nice to be popular, and I think that people feel better if we are liked, if, you know - Americans now don’t have to say they’re from Canada when they travel around,” the Clinton-era diplomat said to laughter from a roomful of reporters at the National Press Club.

Mrs. Albright joined former Sen. John Danforth for the release of a new poll dubbed the “Global Attitudes Project,” a worldwide survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. The findings show double-digit increases in U.S. popularity across Europe, spurred in equal measure by the election of President Obama and the departure of President George W. Bush.

Some 26,397 people interviewed in 25 countries between May 18 and June 16 said they have far more confidence an Obama-run United States will do “the right thing in world affairs.” In Britain, confidence jumped 70 percentage points, in France 78 and in Germany a whopping 79, from a dismal 14 percent in 2008 to 93 percent this year.

Oddly, the poll comes just as the president is beginning to slip in American polls, making him far more popular in Europe than he is at home.

Mr. Danforth, a Republican and one-time U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that the newfound European popularity is due to Mr. Obama’s conciliatory foreign policy.

Some of Mr. Obama’s most visible diplomatic initiatives have targeted rogue nations, including Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and North Korea. He was photographed with a broad smile as he shook hands with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who has berated America and made overtures to the Castro brothers in Cuba. The new president even bowed to Saudi King Abdullah at a London summit in April.

“I think the popularity of Barack Obama and the increased popularity of the United States are a function of a less assertive and more passive approach, particularly in dealing with terror,” Mr. Danforth said.

While admitting the obvious - “You’d rather have people cheer you than throw eggs at you” - the former Missouri lawmaker said that the president’s popularity has not paid off in cooperation on tough issues, from the war on terror to Afghanistan to help in closing the controversial U.S. detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“I think the president is telling people what they want to hear. He’s apologizing; he’s saying we will get out of Iraq and close down Guantanamo. But when he does ask for something, he doesn’t seem to get anything,” Mr. Danforth said.

For instance, 82 percent of the French respondents said they favor closing Guantanamo, “but when the president asked France to take detainees, France agreed to take exactly one person,” Mr. Danforth said.

“I’m sure Guantanamo is unpopular, but what are we supposed to do with these people? I mean, do we just let them go? So where’s the help from the rest of the world? If the popularity is based more on a more passive, less assertive approach, then what do we do in the real world of terror?”

The 200-page poll by the Pew Center, which calls itself independent and nonpartisan, has some unusual headlines, such as “Obama Runs the Table on Guantanamo and Iraq.” But that was in world opinion.

Oddly, the poll found that in America, 45 percent of respondents favor closing Guantanamo, while 47 percent oppose the move, promised by Mr. Obama just two days after he took office. Across Europe, support for closing the facility tops 70 percent. The Palestinian territories come in at 93 percent to 5 percent in favor of closure.

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