The Undertaker of Euro-American harmony, "Der Spiegel"

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,447387,00.html


Business daily Financial Times Deutschland echoes the apparent electoral sentiment that it is "time for a new beginning." The paper recalls just how close the election was, especially after Senator John Kerry's hapless quip about the intelligence of American troops, which set in motion the "formidable political fog machine of the Republicans, which so skilfully portrays critics as unpatriotic denizens, glorifies soldiers as saints and rallies the nation round the flag." This is the sort of politics that alienated America's European allies, the paper says. They were epitomized by "Bush's most important spin doctor Karl Rove," who became "a kind of undertaker of Euro-American harmony." The Financial Times is happy to see that Bush got an electoral "slap in the face" for the war in Iraq, Abu Ghraib, and his "one-dimensional foreign policy." Now, the common challenge for Europe and the USA will be to "cleanse the 'idea that is America' of the dirty smudge of the Bush-fiasco."