Good News/Bad News….


In The amazing adventures of the Man Without a Brain, it seems that in his parting gesture, an attempt to travel the world and say good-bye to all his friends, GWB’s chronicles have been included in the Pew World Project—a project to assess the world’s attitudes.


And that’s where the fun begins.

You see, because the results of the survey has shown instead of barricades being put up at every corner and famous people hiding their silver upon arrival of the American motorcade, the fact is that the reaction has been better than anyone suspected.

How can that be?

To understand the infinite complexity of what this all means one has only to turn to the ultimate Codex, the puzzle that unlocks what the Pew Study really means.


Here’s the nitty gritty, a study that will probably be preserved for future generations….well, at least to chuckle at.

Are you ready?

The study undertaken by the Pew Global Attitudes project has revealed that Europe’s impression of the US has rebounded over the last year. Well, at least somewhat.

If that seems hard to figure in the light of Surges, bad economic numbers for the world, Global Warming and the direction that most see the country going in, don’t shake your head.

Ordinarily, this might seem like a reason for the president to add bounce to his already self-important strut or to smile about his entirely myopic view of the world.

But it’s not.


Before one takes this too far, and extends the credit to Mr. Bush & Company, what we discover from the survey is that it seems that the brighter outlook is due less to GWB than the fact that he is viewed as getting ready to leave office soon. Please God. The optimism come’s from the perceived prospects for the presumed new leader, Obama, in the term ahead.

I secondary survey should perhaps focus on how come the Europeans seem to know so much more than we do. What do they listen to?

The fact of the matter is that the current view is that their assessment of GWB has changed little over the intervening years since his election. He was viewed as an oaf in charge then, and in the ensuing years, no one was disappointed. Pew doesn’t choose name-calling; that’s reserved for the pundits of the Pew who don’t mind calling a spade a spade.


The improvement in the poll results has to do with “more confidence in Obama to do the right thing” than the republican candidate, George McCain, who is seen as more of the same…..

While the survey goes on to point out that the hard economies of many countries over the past year, with the exceptions of China, India and Australia where 82% of those surveyed see the current economic information as good.

Conversely, in the US, 70% express pessimism that includes a prognosis of the economy but extends beyond it to embrace to our continual success in achieving one foreign policy disaster after another.

More to the point, In 11 out of 10 countries surveyed, concerns about Global Warming is on the rise. (Guess who they blame?)

When asked which country is hurting the environment most, majorities or pluralities point to the US—something that GWB simply blows it off in a way reminiscent of the protagonist in Taxi Driver: “Are you talking to me?”
(Sorry, the last phrase was a little ad lib.)

The survey of 24, 717 is the seventh study of global attitudes undertaken by the Pew Research Center.

The Armchair Curmudgeon

Les Aaron