Shouts from the desert

The Sydney Morning Herald story, US sinks to new low in eyes of Australians, reports that a newly released poll indicates 60% of Australians have a negative view of the US, with only 29% having a positive view. This was blamed on the Bush Administration. No surprises there, but the reaction points out a problem with the way we view foreign nations.

The United States as a nation and the Bush Administration are not the same thing. Yet when considering our views on a particular nation, many people - perhaps most - base their opinion of the nation on their opinion of the nation's executive Government. If such a person does not like the executive Government of a foreign nation, they often identify that dislike with the nation itself.

Even in the United States, the current Bush Administration is about as popular as the Ebola virus. An American will most likely still view their nation favourably, even though they think it is being run by a dishonest, corrupt and irresponsible executive.

A side-effect of this faulty equation of the executive with the nation is that people in Australia - or anywhere other than the United States - are criticised as being anti-American if they criticise the acts of the Bush Administration or express dislike or distrust of the Bush Administration. Often this baseless criticism comes from those who should know better. Yet if the Bush Administration is not only bad for the world, but bad for the United States - and there are more than enough facts on which we could reach such a conclusion - then being opposed to the Bush Administration is very much a pro-American stance.

The United States as a nation is a valuable friend and ally of Australia. The Bush Administration is a dangerous, incompetent and admittedly⁺ corrupt^# executive Government of that nation. These two conclusions are very much capable of coexisting - the Bush Administration has just under three years left in it (subject to any impeachment^*, which could well occur over the illegal wire-taps). After the Bush Administration is gone, we will be dealing with somebody else, who will hopefully be better.

⁺ Bush has admitted to ordering illegal wire-taps.

^# Corrupt conduct includes illegal wire-taps, with other suspicions sufficient to give grounds for impeachment including the Plame Affair.

^* There is actually a very intriguing possibility that has just arisen. There is a leak from the Grand Jury into matters surrounding the Plame affair directly implicating the Vice-President of the United States. If the Democrats get control of the United States House of Representatives in the Congressional elections this year, they would appoint the Speaker of the House. If they also get control of the Senate, and run concurrent successful impeachment proceedings against the President (over the wire-taps), and the Vice-President (over the Plame affair), then the Speaker of the House would become President. Such a double-impeachment would take place after 20^th January 2007, in which case that person could serve out the remainder of Bush's term as President, and still be Constitutionally able to be elected President twice, serving a total of nearly 10 years as President. The most likely candidate for Speaker of the House in the increasingly likely event of a Democratic victory is Nancy Pelosi. There is a very real possibility that a year from now, the United States could have a left-liberal female President.