Gerard Baker of the London Times wrote a great opinion piece this week waxing philosophical on Bush’s farewell tour of Europe. Baker (and myself!) both share the opinion that, for all the apparent heartache and suffering the Europeans went through during the Bush Administration, that whole continent is going to end up missing him a lot.

They’ll miss, first, having a villain in the White House. It’s a really convenient excuse to avoid doing anything yourself on pressing global concerns.

Baker’s article is a great read, check it out!

While i’m here, I’m going to touch on another beautiful aspect of US international relations - when we switch out the old president with a new one its a great excuse for a clean slate with foreign governments. People claim America’s reputation has been horribly damaged by Bush, but truth is about 50% of the problems are going to vanish along with him. If the Dems win the triple majority and we switch political parties, I’d raise that estimate to 75%. No one’s going to protest Obama’s motorcades, and college exchange students will be at least 50% less annoying starting next year.

Not that I really care too much about what Europe thinks. I suppose if it was America’s job to keep the Europe happy we’d have to ratify the Lisbon treaty and start smelling bad. Neither of these things really appeal to me.