Usted, No Es Nada

Laura Carlsen writes in Counterpunch that the rest of the world is growing tired of Bush's swaggering Texas Sheriff act:

In the Americas, Bush policies have lately provoked what must be a record number of diplomatic complaints...

Bush's front man for Latin America and the Caribbean, Roger Noriega , is hardly the diplomat to solve this growing image problem. Noriega, Asst. Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, has ruffled feathers throughout the region. In Mexico, he accused the country of playing "political games" in its relationship with the U.S., drawing an indignant response from the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In Argentina, Noriega publicly criticized the government's domestic policies and advocated that the Kirchner government break ties with Cuba. President Kirchner retorted: "We're through being used as a carpet...nobody can sit us down, and much less challenge us, because we are an independent country with dignity..."

But what may seem sublime to some, appears ridiculous to many abroad, and dangerously so. As a result we are seeing a resurgence of some of the ugliest stereotypes of American bullying and hubris.

Worst of all, characteristics associated with the "war president" are increasingly being applied to common Americans as well. At the soccer match between Mexico and the U.S., the Mexican crowd broke out in chants of "Osama, Osama." Pro-terrorists? No, just anti-what the U.S. has come to represent in the world.