"The Obama Effect"

What's the problem? We've finally done what the world has asked of us, and elected an ultra-liberal pacifist to the highest office in the land. I would have thought the rest of the planet would have lifted us on their shoulders and carried us 'round the globe to accolades and huzzahs....

Yet - the already tenuous financial situation got worse, with the Dows hitting all-time post-election lows.

And - for some reason - they seem to be sweating a bit out in Europe, too. What gives? Oh, this:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced Wednesday that Moscow would deploy missiles in its western outpost of Kaliningrad in response to U.S. plans to station an anti-missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Ruh-oh. In response, Europe fires off the strongest weapon in their arsenal - a strongly worded statement!

"The presidency of the European Union council expresses its strong concern after the announcement by President Medvedev ... of the deployment of a complex of Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad," the presidency said in a statement.

"This announcement does not contribute to the establishment of a climate of trust and to the improvement of security in Europe, at a time when we wish for a dialogue with Russia on questions of security in the whole of the continent," it said.

Poland has no fear, of course (hey, these are the guys that charged horses into Panzer tanks in 1939), but then again they are the rebels of the EU anyway:

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Medvedev's move vindicated Warsaw's plan to station U.S. Patriot missiles on its soil, a deployment it persuaded Washington to make in return for its agreement to host part of the shield system.

Medvedev's plan "just shows that our decision to protect our air space with U.S. help is a correct one," Sikorski told the Polish parliament.

Now Europe turns its lonely eyes to America and finds...Baracky and the Dems, looking to smooth over such little kerfluffles by appeasing tyrannical autocrats so they can get back to cutting defense spending to pay for their nanny-state social programs (hey, just like Europe!).

Europe needed us more then they ever wanted to admit. Now that they have the American government that they have always claimed that they wanted, Europe may be forced to confess that they always loved us just the way we were - capitalistic, aggressive, unilateral - and all that complaining was just good-natured grumpiness.

Well, too late, I'd reckon. You allowed the Left to sell the story that we were unloved overseas in the hope of getting a more pliable American government. Well, it worked, but a pliable leadership can be swayed by more than one influence....

Well, Europe got what they wished for. Again I will say - why do I believe there will be a great longing for George W. Bush within all of , say...six months?