I don't want to claim any special insight into the views of European governments just because I live in Europe, but I gotta say I kind of doubt Ralph Peters has it right with his column today. Peter says that "[a] big chill has hit the trans-Atlantic atmosphere," referring to relations between the Obama administration and various European governments.
Peters says that during his trip to Europe last week Obama "brushed off Sarkozy", looked like he had just been divorced from Angela Merkel and treated Gordon Brown as if the British had "just burned the White House -- or a Kenyan village..." Peters says America's relations with Europe were better in Bush's second term than they are now.
Peters finishes up saying that Obama's upbringing was in the third world and that he just has it in for Europe on a personal level. Peters believes that, "Europe is going to miss George W. Bush."
I haven't got that sense at all. Maybe someday Europeans will turn on Obama, but we're a long, long way from that. I suspect that goes for the leaders too. However, I would imagine that (a) some of the European leaders are a bit miffed at Obama's popularity in their countries and (b) I'm pretty sure Merkel is none too happy with the way the administration and the fed are treating the dollar.
