For Some (on the left and on the right) In France, The US Is The World's Biggest Problem

[pampango]

If lambasting France is a common trick in the US Republican primaries, a similar tactic has emerged in France.

According to the French far-left, “the United States of America are the world’s biggest problem.” This assertion earned Jean-Luc Melenchon, figurehead of the Front de Gauche, the applause of more than 2,000 supporters assembled in the southwestern city of Talence in December. Melenchon, who is polling at about 9 percent, is the most virulent in his attacks. An admirer of Hugo Chavez, he has taken to calling the United States “the empire” and its European allies “vassals.”

The French too are choosing a president this year — elections are April 22 and May 6 — and although anti-Americanism isn’t as popular as it used to be, close to one in three voters is rooting for a candidate who openly questions Paris’ alliance with Washington either on the left, in Melenchon, or the right, in Front National candidate Marine Le Pen.

On the opposite end of the political spectrum, Le Pen and her far-right Front National show up in polls at close to 20 percent of the vote. In addition to the economic and political criticism, sympathizers of the Front National — an anti-immigration, some say xenophobic, party — have another qualm about America: its famed “melting pot.”

But most French are wild about President Barack Obama. French approval of the US rose more than 30 points from his election alone, even though America’s wars were not ended. Today, according to the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, 75 percent of the French have a favorable opinion of the United States. In other words, France is America's best friend in Europe.

These days, admitting to anti-American sentiment has become less popular. “Nowadays, people are aware that being anti-American is playing into more than a century of cliches,” Roger said. So at another protest rally on Greece, Front de Gauche supporter Dany Queron insisted: "It's not anti-Americanism, we're against the ultraliberal policies the US is carrying out. Everyone is making that distinction."

But the cliches and the resentment haven't gone anywhere. "If tomorrow there was a President Santorum, and all the policies that go along with that," Philippe Roger said, "the fire of
French anti-Americanism would burn anew."

http://www.businessinsider.com/for-some-in-france-the-us-is-worlds-biggest-problem-2012-2

I'm not sure what the Front de Gauche (far left) supporter meant by "It's not anti-Americanism, we're against the ultraliberal policies the US is carrying out. Everyone is making that distinction." Which of our policies are "ultraliberal"? And why would someone on the far left be opposed to that? I could see someone from the National Front calling our policies "ultraliberal" (even if they are not) just because the NF comes from a far-right point of view.

Something must be getting lost in the translation.

[Selatius]

1. I guess he meant neoliberal. The old definition of "liberal" was no regulation.

It wasn't until FDR appropriated the term that liberal in the US meant something from the left-wing. Prior to FDR, Republicans who favored no regulation of the markets and no government intervention were liberal in that they favored capitalists being liberated to do whatever they pleased. On the other hand, those who favored regulations to correct these problems were called "progressives." Today, the terms are virtually the same in meaning; it's just that one is much older than the other.

Neoliberal was invented just to re-identify the same group of people who favored less government and less regulation, and in today's world, it also means they favor unrestricted free trade, which is just a tool for global labor arbitrage.

[xchrom]

2. In this case - liberal is the classic economic

Liberalization policies that has allowed an American global dominance.

Not liberal as in progressive.