A word from the rest of the world

By Darrell Laurant

Published: November 9, 2008

If Europe had been allowed to vote in the most recent U.S. presidential election, Barack Obama’s victory margin would have been a lot wider.

“A poll was taken in Germany after the election,” German diplomat Thomas Bagger told an audience at the Conference of Political Scientists at Lynchburg College on Saturday, “and 89 percent were happy with the result.”

The question is: Why?

Or, as Bagger put it: “Why would anyone (in Germany) prefer someone whose only experience with Europe was a three-week backpacking trip in his youth over a man who had been in the Senate for over 20 years, knew Germany and knew German politicians?”

Bagger, a “minister counselor” in the German Embassy in Washington, suggested that the reason might be “language.”

“The way you frame a problem is very important,” he said. “McCain tended to frame things in terms of patriotism and military heroism. In Germany, for obvious historical reasons, that approach will never win you an election.”

Then, too, Obama offers the allure of a blank slate, an unsullied canvas. Foreign heads of state — even Iran’s loose-cannon leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — have already shown an eagerness to make a good first impression.

“The expectations are enormous for this administration,” said British Embassy official Ian Bond, who joined Bagger for the centerpierce “Global Challenges and the Future of U.S.-European Relations” session in Sydnor Performance Hall. “Probably too high, because the danger is that disappointment is inevitable.”

Prior to his presentation, Bond demonstrated some dry British humor by joking about his name.

“I’m not James Bond, and I’m not Ian Fleming,” he said. “I’m Ian Bond. And I don’t drive an Aston-Martin, although that would be nice.”

As he pointed out, though, even Fleming’s fictional superhero would have trouble dealing with the array of problems that will face President Obama (that still sounds weird, doesn’t it?).

Like a sick economy, a seemingly endless war in Afghanistan (not to mention Iraq), and global climate change. The point Bagger and Bond kept making, though, is that these problems are interconnected internationally.

Being diplomats, they were both very diplomatic, both about the incoming American president and the current one. Bagger, for instance, had this to say about a U.S. invasion of Iraq done essentially solo:

“When you’re a global power, multilateralism is a choice. Obviously, the choice (with Iraq) was to reject it. In Europe, we are in a very different situation.”

If we had fought wars with Canada and Mexico, we might feel the same way. But America has always operated in splendid isolation on the global scene, fighting both world wars without the unpleasantness of being invaded ourselves. Meanwhile, Europeans have vowed never to trash each other’s countries again, if only out of self-interest.

America was, of course, enormously helpful in resolving both global conflicts — in large part because we were physically isolated. Our factories could continue to crank out tanks and bombers without being bombed in the process, making us the Arsenal of Democracy.

The relationship between the U.S. and Europe gets a bit testier in peace time, however.

“In many ways, the world looks very different on different sides of the Atlantic,” said Bagger, who was a graduate student at the University of Maryland when the Berlin Wall came down.

With the war in Afghanistan, for example, Bond (a former ambassador to Latvia now stationed in Washington) noted: “Helping in this effort is going to be an increasingly difficult choice for many European countries. Why does this matter to the man on the street in Brussels?”

What does matter to him, apparently, is the environment.

Why, someone asked on Saturday, has the United States not been as willing to join in international treaties dealing with climate change as European countries?

Bagger looked at Bond. Bond looked at Bagger.

“I don’t know,” Bond said finally.

The edgiest thing either of them said had to do with some possible fence-mending by Obama.

“We’d love to be able to love America again,” Bagger said.