If there is anything that could be counted at all as good news for Bush it is that the authors show that he is not the only one to blame for the dim view of the world for America today.  In her opus, Julia E. Sweig of the Council of Foreign Relations, writes in “Friendly Fire” about losing friends and making enemies in the anti-American century. In “America Against the World,” Andrew Kohut and Bruce Stokes quantify Bush’s plunge in America’s esteem and also note the anti-Americanism emanating from globalization long before Bush’s presidency and international resentment of American culture (Hollywood movies and McDonald’s) and business practices (long work hours).

These two authors traced anti-Americanism to the post-Cold War pre-eminence of the Unites States of America. That was the beginning of global resentment, they said. People were already ambivalent about encroaching American culture and commerce as they saw on video. The same people had long felt bitterly toward the rich in their own countries and transferred their antipathy to America and Americans.  In the late 90’s America became a natural target of global ill-will. Sweig contends that Bush’s policies stripped bare the latent anti-American animus that had accumulated in time.  On the other hand, Kohut and Stokes cite poll results that clearly showed global opinion the United States plummeted under Bush since he assumed the presidency.  A few years ago, as the two books revealed, while anti-Americanism was focused on government policies, the world held Americans in higher esteem than their government. Now foreigners are equating the American people with their government.

Still, the authors said, Americans, unlike their leaders, do not seek to convert other peoples to their ideology, and are not “cultural imperialists,” although they consider their culture superior to others. Also, Americans tend to downplay the importance of America’s relationship to other nations, to be indifferent to global issues, to lack enthusiasm for multinational efforts and institutions. Even if Bush does not reflect the real America, and even if he is replaced by someone who does, they say America will still be in trouble. For much of the problem, as Sweig put it, is the long-standing near inability of the United States to see its power from the perspective of the powerless. That is to say, in short, for the Americans to see themselves as others see them.

Well, changing that will require not a leader worthy of the American people, but a leader willing to lead the American people.

 Presidential trivia. Here in America, just like in the Philippines where we have Gloria Arroyo’s “Hello Garci tape scandal,” they have their own scandals, too. John Adams, one of early American presidents, had his “XYZ Affair”; Richard Nixon’s “Watergate”; Bill Clinton’s “Whitewater”; and Warren Harding’s “Teapot Dome Affair.” The oldest elected president was Ronald Reagan at age 69; the youngest president at 42 was Teddy Roosevelt, when he assumed office after the assassination of William McKinley. The youngest elected president at age 43 was John F. Kennedy.  The only father and son presidents were John Adams and John Quincy Adams; and George H. W, Bush and George W. Bush.  The only bachelor in the White House was President James Buchanan.

The tallest president was Abraham Lincoln at 6 feet and 4 inches. The shortest was James Madison at 5 feet and 6 inches.

The best presidents were Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Reagan. And the worst presidents were Nixon, Millard Fillmore and Warren Harding.