We don’t talk often about what the European countries think about what we’re doing in politics today. Most of the time I could care less, but in this case Europe has a stake in the debate even though they don’t have a say. So what is Europe saying?
A couple of good articles highlight the views over there. In this article from the Guardian, you can see a quite negative view of how the Tea Party is turning something that is normally mundane (raising the debt ceiling), and have made it a place to stand their ground on cutting the budget. For more info, see my post about the strategy being used by both sides. Even Bill Kristol is quoted saying the Tea Party is “weakening the Republican party in the House and the conservative movement in the country and making it harder to defeat Obama in 2012.” That’s coming from one of the most hardcore conservatives in the country!
In this article from The Atlantic, it seems much of Europe is seeing this as a sort of catalyst for America’s decline as the major superpower in the world. The quick rebuke from the Senate showed how dysfunctional Washington is being, but hat maybe a bit much. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the catalyst though.
What do you think? Do you care what Europe has to say?
