SlowpokeBlog

A letter from an American currently teaching in Hong Kong was passed along to me recently (the letter had been made public on a newsgroup, so I assume it's kosher to excerpt here):

I cannot emphasize enough to Americans back home what a disaster a Bush win would be for US prestige and influence overseas. If he is defeated, a lot of sins may be forgiven, but anti-Bush sentiment and frustration AT self-centered and counterproductive US policy will shift to all Americans if we cannot defeat him and the neo-cons.

As someone who loves to travel, this worries me. Up to this point, I've had the impression that many people around the world (thankfully) make a distinction between Bush's policies and Americans in general. I was in Europe just a few months after the Iraq war, fully expecting at least one awkward moment -- but people could not have been friendlier. If Bush finally gets legitimately elected, however, it will be very hard for the rest of the world not to view Americans as complicit in the madness.