European elites despised the “cowboy Bush,” just as they despised the “actor” President Ronald Reagan.
Even President Bill Clinton came in for European mockery. I know, because I lived on the Continent back then. I recall how cultural elites there laughed at Clinton, with his Arkansas twang and his fondness for high-calorie fast food.
As for Obama, maybe they loved him. Then again, he made it a habit to apologize for the United States, not least for our “arrogant, dismissive and derisive” attitude toward Europe. Obama even compared American exceptionalism with British or Greek exceptionalism.
Europeans may have loved that, but did they respect a US president who thought America was just OK? I’m not so sure. Anyway, in that same speech with the apology for our arrogant, dismissive derisiveness, Obama also noted that “in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual but can also be insidious.” Yes, it can be — and it didn’t start with Trump
