A very good editor once talked with me about doing a series of interviews with foreign leaders. I said I wasn't quite sure I knew the right questions to ask.
"Ask them what they think of America," he said. "That's what Americans really care about."
Well, these days you don't have to ask. People don't like us, and they tell you so before you pop the question. In fact, a lot of them say they hate us.
Here is a distilled sample of the kind of things you hear and read traveling through Italy and France for two weeks:
"Arrogant" ... "Arrogant bullies" ... "Hypocrites" ... "You people think you are exempt from all the rules, as if there is one set of rules for us and another for you." ... "Do you know that there are people hoping China becomes more and more powerful, just to put the United States in its place?"
[Excerpt of an Opinion piece by Richard Reeves, Yahoo News]
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