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France: US "Force for evil"

The Telegraph and YouGov have done some international polling on views of the United States. 40% of the French polled said that the US is a "force for evil," 28% said a "force for good," and 32% replied "don't know." In terms of who they would vote for in the 2008 presidential election, 65% would vote for Barack Obama, a mere 8% for John McCain, 14% wouldn't vote for either, and 13% don't know. Their headline? "'Sarkozy the American' fails to convert France"

"The French are anti-American, it’s not simplistic to say that,” said French political scientist Dominique Moisi. “That just shows even more how brave Sarkozy is to break the mould.”

"There’s a Bush factor in it, but it goes beyond that. It pre-dated Bush. It was already there during the Clinton period,” he went on.

Another puts more onus on Bush:

The problem here is the French mix up Bush and Americans in general," said Charlotte Lepri, who is writing a book on 50 preconceived ideas the French have of America.

"Even if we share common values, many French mistakenly believe for example that Americans have no public service at all, that the country is deeply isolationist and bent on world domination.”

Being "deeply isolationist" and "bent on world domination" seems completely oxymoronic to me, considering US isolationists are horrified by the Iraq War; I think "arrogant" might be more appropriate.

Journaux : De France et d'Ailleurs