Maybe I'm just a jackass, but this Welcome Back America celebration strikes me as kind of submissive.
I will breathe a certain sigh of relief when (if) Barack Obama is elected US President. However, celebrating an Obama victory around the world seems to miss the point - especially if he loses.
With America's standing in the world at an all-time low, this is a perfect opportunity for the world community to start the difficult and painful process of making America more like the UK and France.
How about we let America know that we like it as a country and not an empire? The idea of America, as a shining beacon of freedom, instead of the reality of its fingers in all sorts of pies?
I mean, would we celebrate any other nation's change of government like this? Isn't it their long, national nightmare that's drawing to a close?
Celebrating in this way tacitly acknowledges that the Americans rule the world, and that we're really happy that the sensible younger brother will be donning the purple instead of the crazy uncle.
How about instead we just say, "Hey, you guys are awesome, but we're not going to let you pull that Pax Americana stuff again only to screw all of us royally. How about you just play by the same rules everyone else does?"
It's one thing for the US to believe in American Exceptionalism, but it's another thing for the rest of the world to validate it.
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