And Their Point Is?

The idea that our foreign policy's success for failure can be measured by foreign opinion polls of how foreigners view America has always seemed rather silly. For one thing, given the balance of power, I would think that our opinion of foreigners should be of way more importance to those foreigners than their's is of us.

But even ignoring American opinion of specific foreign nations or religions, so what if foreigners are unhappy with us? Does it mean they submerge every other goal they have to act on this anti-American attitude? Do they take up arms against us or demand their governments wage war against us? Or even just to refuse to buy our products or listen to our music or otherwise attempt to gain our freedoms and lifestyles?

Well no (via Real Clear Politics):

A backlash is developing against unbridled anti-Americanism. Those who argue that the Iraq war has been a great boon to al Qaeda are selectively reading the talk coming out of the Arab world, and paying no attention to its actions. Anti-Americanism is a clever alibi, but hardly a unifying force across the great divides of a society.

We still get plenty of cooperation from the countries that profess to hate us. Perhaps if our enemy was the League of Women Voters we'd have a problem. But any person who dislikes America must consider the head-chopping nutballs that present themselves as our alternative. Given the choice, the foreigners choose to mutter against us and then work with us.

And this is a self-solving problem. Once our Islamist enemies are defeated, our methods that incite annoyance will be curbed, and the reaction to those methods will then recede.

Besides, those who moan about our current reputation forget the cries against us in the 1990s under President Clinton and in the 1980s under President Reagan. Complaints and cooperation seem to be constants in our foreign relations.