I just spent the last two days in London and had the chance to talk a bit with a few English folks about events in the world. It was extremely interesting to hear a non-American perspective on the news.
First of all, people in London (Okay, the few to whom I spoke) were completely uninterested in what we would call the scandals regarding Benghazi and the AP. There was some interest in the IRS scandal. On the other hand, there was great interest in what the NSA has been doing. One man was certain that the NSA was listening to his calls and intercepting his email. He thought the whole thing was funny though, since he assured me that his mail and calls were really dull.
Second, the Londoners were very unimpressed by the current American government. In general, the view was that the high hopes that they had when president Obama first took office had been dashed. They said that Obama had promised much but delivered little. I got the impression that these people really did not have a deep understanding or even knowledge about what has happened in the USA during the Obama years, but they just had gotten a general impression from years of news stories to which they had paid little attention. Since much of the American media portrays the international view of Obama as highly favorable, I was somewhat surprised by the general disappointment with Obama that I found.
First of all, people in London (Okay, the few to whom I spoke) were completely uninterested in what we would call the scandals regarding Benghazi and the AP. There was some interest in the IRS scandal. On the other hand, there was great interest in what the NSA has been doing. One man was certain that the NSA was listening to his calls and intercepting his email. He thought the whole thing was funny though, since he assured me that his mail and calls were really dull.
Second, the Londoners were very unimpressed by the current American government. In general, the view was that the high hopes that they had when president Obama first took office had been dashed. They said that Obama had promised much but delivered little. I got the impression that these people really did not have a deep understanding or even knowledge about what has happened in the USA during the Obama years, but they just had gotten a general impression from years of news stories to which they had paid little attention. Since much of the American media portrays the international view of Obama as highly favorable, I was somewhat surprised by the general disappointment with Obama that I found.
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