More Signs That America Has a New Leader

The world has now seen that our wild and crazy mascot has been replaced. “You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists!” and “Bring ‘em on!” have given way to “I'm here to listen, to share ideas and to jointly, as one of many NATO allies, help shape our vision for the future.”

Ah, fresh air. Sunshine.

At a town hall in Strasbourg, France, Obama said: “In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. There have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.”

Sorry, xenophobes and phony “patriots,” but that needed to be acknowledged and brought into the open. The G-20 Summit and Obama’s speeches were long on feelgood rhetoric and short on specific solutions. But this was an important first step. We’re all in this together, and this new approach of conciliation and collaboration is the only way to deal with the global economy, terrorism, climate change, etc.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy responded with: “It feels really good to be able to work with a U.S. President who wants to change the world and who understands that the world does not boil down to simply American frontiers and borders. And that is a hell of a good piece of news for 2009.”

More good news comes from Obama’s meeting with bank CEOs last week. As this article says, “the bankers struggled to make themselves clear to the president of the United States.”

The CEOs kept “explaining” to the president why they needed to keep paying these exorbitant salaries to their “top” employees (i.e. the ones who dug them into this cesspool in the first place).

Obama interrupted their arrogant God’s-gift-to-the-world preening with “Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that…My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”

Bam!!! Pow!!! You tell 'em! Goddamn, I like our new president.

Conservatives, on the other hand, have a somewhat different reaction.

cross-posted at Bring It On!