Worldly Chatter

There was a multinational poll done on whether the US could be trusted to act responsible on an international level and majority of participants said either not at all or not very much. Just a couple stated overwhelmingly that they could. In the same poll it showed that 3 out of 4 Americans feel that the country has taken on the roll of global enforcer more than it should. A lot of the mistrust grew sharply with the start of the Iraq war. Apparently there was already some apprehension there.
No surprise really, even the Americans are losing faith in the president and the conflict. Congress is at odds with the president and that isn’t going unnoticed by the international community either. It seems that the US has been placed under a microscope and the world is looking in trying to see what else to admire, pick at or simply stand around and watch the show.
I found the article interesting because it shows how the world has been watching America and every decision it makes. How the world is changing its opinions and I often wonder if Americans see what the rest of the world sees. I can recall living in America and having an opinion, a certain amount of loyalty to the country and every decision it made. Whether I liked the decisions or not it simply was that you acknowledged the difference in opinion and moved on. So many like me silently disagreeing but not many wanting to rock the boat. You see it on the news when someone disagrees loud enough, it makes headlines. The poll was done over the course of a year and involved 18 countries. Prior to that countries formed their opinions, their citizens questioning everything and seeing how differently things were done in America verses elsewhere. The world has always watched and formed its opinions. Why is it only recently that Americans have started to see how the rest of the world sees? 3 out of 4 Americans feel the role of global enforcer has been taken on more than it should according to the poll. When the elections were held last year they made enough noise to change powers in Congress. Now Congress and the White House are at odds on just about everything. President Bush was elected twice so clearly enough Americans believed in him and his stance to vote him in again. But what has changed in the past two years to make Americans change their view point and join what most of the world already thought?
I sit in an interesting position where I can see from an international perspective how my country is viewed and at the same time see how Americans view it. I know that while I lived state side there was this air of patriotism, whether right or wrong you stick by your fellow American. Maybe it is finally coming to where enough of those fellow Americans see collectively therefore the whole perspective changes. It just takes time for all to get on board. Maybe that’s how it took so long because over the years there have been people staunchly against the war, or the President but not enough of them saw what the rest of the world saw to make the kind of change that has been slowly happening since Jan.
With all this, I am wondering since the US isn’t trusted internationally, is it trusted domestically? Do Americans trust what is going on inside their own country? I haven’t been back to the states since August so it’s hard to get a more personal perspective when you’re out of the loop. I hear from friends and family that it isn’t but still curious as to what the majority think.

International mistrust over US, US foreign policy, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Christopher Whitney, International poll over trust on America