Blog Recommendation

I usually only link to friends' blogs, but there's one I'd encourage you to check out. Amar C. Bakshi has a new blog with the Washington Post called "How The World Sees America."

Having lived overseas for an extended period--and therefore caring very much that my country is a positive influence in the world (unlike the current administration), I find Bakshi's comments fascinating. Currently he's in Britain on the first leg of a trip that will take him back to his ancestral home of India (via Pakistan, no less).

So far, he has found a Manchesterian who admits he used to pretend to be an American sailor just to pick up girls in his home town (wouldn't work now, he admits). Bakshi also finds a group of drama students practicing their American accents (with mixed results).

In an interview with Prospect Magazine founder David Goodhart, Bakshi learns that the current anti-Americanism is temporary:

“This sentiment will disappear in five seconds,” [Goodhart] says, "when American leadership changes hands. "Come Obama, everything changes."

One can only hope! Even so, Obama, quickly come!