Miami Student

Issue date: 3/1/05 Section: OpEd Page

During the past several days, President George W. Bush's visit to Europe in an attempt to mend damaged relations has been the highlight of every European media outlet. While the excitement associated with his visit last week has gradually ceased, it seems that the Europeans are absorbing what has been reported as a positive visit.I'm not sure how much the average American knows about the President's trip here - if they know much at all. If I were in Oxford, my effort would probably be limited to flipping through Headline News, skimming a New York Times article, and taking in whatever one-sided view the journalists in the White House Press Corps report. In the United States, trans-Atlantic relations are far away and far from the average person's concerns. It's easy to overlook and easy to remain detached from the captivating realm of international politics.In Europe, things are a little different. There are meetings and conferences, literally, in Luxembourg's backyard. Every other person on my seven-hour train ride this weekend had his or her face buried in some sort of "Bush in Europe" article. In Luxembourg, every class brings up dialogue regarding relations between the EU and United States. I won't claim to be an expert in foreign affairs. However, two months in Europe has offered tremendous insight into how reliant on each other the two continents are.As an American student in Europe, I've become accustomed to random people making comments about President Bush and the power hungry United States. It's tempting to agree and criticize his policies. However, I commend Bush for his efforts in finally making a trip to Europe after two years of disagreement and tension. His four-day visit included meetings with German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, French president Jacques Chirac and Russia president Vladimir Putin. While no tangible changes have been made in the past week, it seems that the superpowers are embracing a new relationship - while remaining cautious.The Bush administration brought on its own problems by isolating Europe two years ago with the war in Iraq and there is a long way to go. President Bush said it himself during a brief appearance with President Chirac. When asked if relations were warm enough for the French leader to be invited to America, President Bush replied with, "I'm looking for a good cowboy." He must be looking for those rich cowboys from Connecticut who buy their way into Yale.It's about time President Bush made direct attempts to patch up relations with Europe. But the European visit was described as a "listening tour" from the very beginning. From the European perspective, if the Bush administration continues treating the Europe nations as partners rather than fair weather friends, we may finally see a gradual decrease to some of the anti-American sentiments circulated around this continent.

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