WRM: Europe Burns, But Still Has Time and Energy to Look Down on America

Here is a long and insightful essay by Walter Russell Mead on Europe.  There is so much to say about this essay, but it is the middle of the work day, so comments must be brief and tangential.

As usual, WRM's writings are at once enthralling and infuriating.  Take this tidbit:

But while the Europeans are more or less united on the subject of America’s shortcomings (they like Obama but don’t think his foreign policy is working well, they hate and fear the Tea Party, and they just don’t understand why we do what we do about guns and health care), it was on the subject of Europe that I found them the most divided.

America's shortcomings?  I'm tempted to reveal my less than collegial, non-academic manner with a crude reply, but suffice it to say 'Hey, we all have shortcomings.  Tend to your own rather than dwell on ours.  Furthermore, arguably, our shortcomings are less destructive and pressing than yours.'

"Like Obama."  Again, who cares?   Substantively though, what importance is such an emotion and why should it be given any weight?  Do Obama's policies advance our common interests and strengthen our common purposes?  Apparently not and they realize it, yet they "like" him.  Judge leaders as you would a Facebook friend's comment and you'll find yourself in deep yogurt.

Tea Party?  I guarantee that no European has any conception of what the Tea Party is and what it stands for.  It is hard enough to filter out the bias of our press that at least can view the Tea Party up close, forget about understanding the Tea Party through the doubly biased lens of the European press.  So the hate and fear is pretty clearly a function of lack of understanding.

Guns?  We should brook no lectures on guns from those who teed up Kristalnachts, concentration camps and that relegated tens of millions to effective slavery behind the Iron Curtain for decades.  Truly, Europeans really need STFU on guns because a) the atrocious amount of blood of disarmed citizens they have on their hands and b) they're damn hypocrites who have alot of guns, just illegal ones.

Healthcare?  What, like this?

Finally, all this sneering, snobbery, and ignorance comes as Europe burns.  Sigh.