Feeling the love

I'm back.

Sorry for the long absence. I'm sure it pained you, Dear Reader, not having my guidance through these times that try our very souls.

In any case, serious jet lag, having just returned from Europe where people are very, very interested in the U.S. election ("We should have a vote," said one quite successful Continental); Obama is seen as an inspiration that might, just might, save our stature, at least among Europeans (someone I spoke to from the Middle East felt strongly that America's "anti-Arab" policies will not change regardless of the president); and, in one conversation I learned I was a Hamas-loving terrorist enabler, and in the next, an anti-Arab Israeli apologist.

The Continental man referred to above said that Americans were "lucky. There is anti-French feeling around the world," he said, "and anti-English feeling. But there is no real anti-American sentiment; just anti-Bush feeling." Maybe there's hope yet. At least among our European friends. The Middle Eastern woman mentioned earlier was more disquieting. She's a successful business woman who has lived in the U.S. and worked most of her career for U.S. companies, and yet she felt that we -- by re-electing Bush -- are complicit in his policies, and, hence, we as a people cannot be rehabilitated. A bit scary.