We Silly Americans

One of the interesting aspects of foreign travel is that one gets an outside perspective on US happenings. To my surprise, I discovered that European countries follow US news much more closely than the US public follows the news of other countries (maybe that shouldn't be such a big surprise). Admittedly, most of what I'm getting on this trip comes from international CNN (usually the only English language TV station the hotels get), but even so, most of the reporters and anchors are from non-US countries. Aside from the world cup qualifying that dominates EVERY news cast, the big stories right now are: Obama's health care speech, the 'you lie' S.C. Senator, Obama's advice to children to stay in school, and Serena Williams' temper meltdown at the US open.

I confess, I can't for the life of me understand what could have been controversial about Obama encouraging children to stay in school. International CNN is not showing clips of Rush Limbaugh or other conservatives (thank you CNN!) so I am at a loss as to what argument they are making to vilify such an innocuous position. All I can say is, you don't see Democrats going after Arnold for advocating fitness and exercise.

The international perspective on health care is also amusing. The other day, I watched as a news anchor asked of an American reporter (paraphrasing), “Being used to our British health care system, it's hard for me to understand why the American people are hesitant to embrace public health coverage. Can you explain?” The American reporter tossed out the fears of death panels, rationing, and unfair competition but the British anchor woman wasn't buying it. “I see” she said, but clearly, she didn't.

The other two stories – 'you lie' and Serena Williams – are duly reported, but not with as much drama as I suspect they are reported in the US. Perhaps this is because, in the eyes of the international community, such obnoxious behavior is par for the American course.