Posted by
Matthew on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 2:51:45 PM
Newsweek has an
article titled
Time of the Tough Guys which would be more aptly titled
Tough Time for the Top Guys. The thesis of the article is that leaders around the world are all suffering fairly low approval ratings. Vlad "
What, Me Dictate?" Putin has one of the best ratings, somewhere around 32%. England's Gordon Brown comes close at 30%, with also-rans Hu Jintao and Sarkozy falling in line in the mid 20s. Only Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad scored lower than El Presidente Bush on this survey, and not by much.
Worth mentioning that this survey was conducted with a worldwide poll, and the scores were cumulative for the globe. In other words, most people agree the Tieless Wonder from Tehran should be voted off the island.
Of course, Bush would be next to go in this poll.
There are a number of conclusions one could draw from the poll. I agree with the author that much of the score reflects a global feeling of the blahs. I believe that it also gives the lie to the old saying, "There's no such thing as bad publicity." It would appear that the more a leader's name is in front of people, the more they see that leader as being somehow responsible for their misery.
I think one might link this to the excitement in some other countries regarding Obama. He must be great, the logic would run, because no one knows anything about him. A coworker just returned from France this week after visiting his wife's family in the French countryside. All everyone wanted to talk about with him was Obama. He is a rock star there as well.
And, predictably, none of them had a clue what he actually wants to do as President.
People really are the same wherever you go, aren't they?