Europe's Anger

Over at the John Adams Blog, the new blog of the The Antient and Honourable John Adams Society, Minnesota's Conservative Debating Society, Publius writes

If you have not yet read Kagan's recently published talk on American legitimacy, it is well worth the read. My basic impression of his argument is that European voters feel disenfranchised with U.S. Presidential elections - they feel they should have the right to vote for our future (or demise) also. Consequently, Europeans see no "democratic" legitimacy in anything we do. We are the oppressors of their freedoms!

There is something to this, but I think it is broader than just not getting to vote. Europe is angry because we have, in their opinion, taken from them something that by all rights should be theirs - relevance.

Think about this. Who is the average European more angry at, President Bush or Saddam Hussein? By ``angry at,'' I mean viscerally. In the gut. Given this way of defining anger, there is no question the answer is Bush. Europeans might think Saddam is an evil person, but there is simply not the emotional reaction Bush incites.

So what explains this?

It can't be that Europeans simply expect more from an American president than an Iraqi dictator (although they do and should). The emotional reaction to someone treating third parties (in this case, Iraqis) worse than you expected is disappointment, not anger. Anger comes from someone doing something to you.

So what has Bush done to Europe? He hasn't invaded, killed Europeans, threatened to hurt Europeans, or anything like that. He has ignored them. He thanked them for their opinion and did what he thought was right. (Which I have argued is all he morally could have done.) And now we have the angry Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction , "I will not be ignored."

Uraguay doesn't feel humiliated because we invaded Iraq over their objections. Uraguay has accepted that the US acts with or without Uraguay's approval. But, like Close's character, Europe feels entitled to be relevant, not discarded like a former mistress. Hide the bunny.