Kerry reaches out to a world where support for Bush is ebbing away

Shortly before Germany's chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, flew to Washington for talks with George Bush last month, a journalist asked if he was going to say goodbye to the president ahead of the US elections in November. Mr Schröder's adviser grinned broadly before composing his face into a frown. "I won't speculate on that," he said.

Although Mr Schröder deliberately avoided the Democratic candidate, John Kerry, during his two-day trip to the US, there is little doubt that a Kerry victory would provoke rejoicing inside Germany's government, as it would in many other parts of Europe, as well as Asia, Africa and Latin America.

(snip)

Hostility towards a second Bush term is generally assumed to be widespread throughout the world because of the Iraq war, the concept of pre-emptive strikes and bullying of small countries. On issues from the Kyoto agreement and the international criminal court to antipathy towards the UN, President Bush has alienated countries Washington would normally classify as allies.

Distress over Mr Bush's foreign policy is not confined to the world beyond the US. According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll yesterday, 57% of Americans want their next president to steer the country away from the course set by the current leader.

Asked how much support Mr Bush had worldwide, Dana Allin, senior fellow for transatlantic affairs at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: "Not a lot. There is a conventional wisdom about US elections for foreign policy: that the incumbent is always preferred because of relations and predictability. This is an election where that pattern is broken. There is a perception, for better or worse, that there has been a departure from the tradition of American foreign policy."

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1166063,00.html

head on over to the UN and literally "beg" for forgiveness from the
international community. Then, he needs to start leading by
example. Reclaim what America stood for.

If he does this...then I will give him my unquestionable support.

One of his first foreign policy moves, she said, would be to head to the UN and establish the new message, "We will cooperate with the international community."

"I'll believe it when I see it..." ;)

What is to reclaim?--this basically is what America stood for..

Apologizing for what Bush has done and offering to move forward in a different direction is what he needs to do.

No Democrats should be begging for forgiveness for Bush's actions. Kerry is not Bush, Bush is not America.

The U.S. is going to have to earn their forgiveness. It's going to take a lot of time and money.

the good ole` boys from arkansas-bill and wes to smooth things over in europe.

when they see one?

Oh, that's right - he has united them against US.

:mad:

I believe Kerry will visit Europe before the election; the lefties will give him a rousing welcome which will resonate BIG TIME here at home; and when the history of this election is written, someone will call it the first global election.

(I also believe that anyone who's actually waiting for Kerry to go before the UN and literally "beg" the world for forgiveness ought to start thinking about voting for Nader because that ain't gonna happen...)

Kerry has spoken about this and most likely the American allies know that he will work with them not against them. I hope he asks Clark to be VP and that Clark accepts. That would make a strong team.

It can't be the great uniter's fault. I've only seen so much hate one time before and that was for the clenis.