Good morning, Netizens...

Of all the political cartoons I have viewed over the last week, David Horsey perhaps has captured the essence of how the Europeans view President and Mrs. Obama. It is NOT the same as when George Bush was President; frankly speaking he was a bit more “starchy”, more of what Europeans have come to view how American Presidents appear, talk and act in public. The Obamas are more like rock stars.

All the machinations and political statements aside, perhaps the single incident that will go down in history as one of the premiere moments actually could be claimed by Michelle Obama who gave a heartfelt and touching speech to students at an English girls' school. It was a personal, heart-warming speech, not one of those speeches that American's Presidents' wives have come to be known for. If you watch the various videos of her speech, at the end you will see her Secret Service detail having major fits as she reaches out to audience members.

It has been too long since an American President and his wife have so easily captured the hearts and minds of their European counterparts. While it is true that Barack Obama appears to have obtained less than he originally was requesting from the G20 Summit, he failed to obtain either the financial or military support he originally had asked of the G20 leaders, it still should be said of his first major trip abroad that the Obamas captured the hearts of Europe with his natural skills, warm personality and innate dignity.

It remains to be seen whether those skills and his popularity around the world will solve the plethora of economic problems that confront the world economy, but at least we can say with some degree of finality that in the final judgment of President Obama's first major foray into Europe, he made more friends for America's way of life than enemies. When he wooed Europeans, they not only welcomed him with open arms, they swooned. It was almost as if he and Michelle were rock stars, rather than our leaders.

That, in my opinion, is a welcome change indeed.

Dave

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