Bye bye Anti-Americanism?

We try with this blog to feed the discussion on how U.S and European liberals and progressives can work together. The issue of anti-Americanism and especially of alleged hatred of the U.S. among European leftwing circles is therefore crucial. A recent article published in the Chicago-based progressive magazine In These Times and written by a respected journalist, Paul Hockenos, makes an interesting contribution to the debate.
In his essay Paul Hockenos debunks the myth of overall, ingrained European anti-americanism that quite a few right-wing commentators in the U.S. like to brandish. Without denying that “anti-americanim is alive and well in Europe and, among hardcore America haters, there is often an anti-Semitic element” he demonstrates that it is a minority and sometimes even marginal phenomenon when compared with “the European’s overall positive perception of Americans”.
While reminding that since the 60s many of the sources of inspiration for the European left have been American, he does not brush aside the reality of “conflicting visions of how to organize society and conduct relations in the wider world”. “These contrasting preferences in social model, cultural bearing and international strategy go beyond what America does and penetrate the essence of what America is, Paul Hochenos admit. But they are differences based on rational comparative analysis, not knee-jerk antipathy".
There are differences between mainstream European and U.S. opinions –on death penalty, the role of the state, the place of religion in public and private life- but expressing these differences does not amount to anti-Europeanism or anti-Americanism.
The interesting question will be how the next presidential election will help to put aside the Bush legacy and bring the U.S. back to positions that are closer to the European approaches. In the upcoming July/August 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs, James P. Rubin, assistant secretary of state for public affairs under President Clinton, offers a very interesting proposal. “Both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, he writes, recognize how much harm has been done and have vowed to restore the United States’ standing in the world”. Suggesting that the presidential election provides an opportunity for a fresh start in E.U.-European relations, he advises the next President to declare “that the era of U.S. unilateralism is over and that partnership with Europe is a central tenet of U.S. foreign policy”.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/articles/3698/does_the_eu_hate_you/