Europe Is Giddy for US: Can It Last?

In France, the magic of Barack Obama’s inauguration is “a bit like the liberation after World War II,” says one French analyst. This particular sentiment “may have hit the hyperbolic stratosphere,” writes Elizabeth Bryant in the Washington Times, but it reflects a groundswell. “Fundamentally, the French expect of Barack Obama that America again finds the path it fixed during the time of George W. Bush's father that is the path to a world order,” the analyst said.

Obama has changed the world’s view of America, but such rosy international opinion may turn less rosy when the new president begins tangible demands of other nations, said a French political scientist. If Obama tries to round up more European troops to help US efforts in Afghanistan, for example, he may face a tough time: in Germany, France, Italy, and Britain, more than half the population is opposed to sending more troops, polls show.
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