New Washington, Old Europe (TURKEY)

During the Bush years, "old Europe" had a convenient excuse to blame the cowboy diplomacy of the United States for almost all the problems under the sun. From Iraq to Guantanamo, from waterboarding to Kyoto, the US president personified reckless behavior.

All these wrongs transformed America into a pariah state in the eyes of progressive and liberal Europeans. These days are no more. Now that Bush is gone and Washington has a much more appealing new face, Europeans should be mindful of what they have wished for.

This is no longer about high expectations in Europe but similar expectations in Washington. Much has been said over the last couple of months, since the historic election of the first African-American president, about the need to manage global expectations. It was a mostly one-sided debate about high hopes in Europe and the potential for disappointment for those awaiting a drastically different American superpower. Strangely absent from these discussions are high expectations of Europe in a post-Bush Washington. Therefore, today if we are to talk about disappointment, it is worth asking on which side of the Atlantic such frustration might set in first.

FULL ARTICLE