tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post5817505509455065356..comments2024-02-21T05:16:22.788-05:00Comments on Two Weeks Notice: A Latin American Politics Blog: More on why Bush was unpopular in Latin AmericaGreg Weekshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15765114859595124082noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-63309186281908652002010-06-16T19:17:59.068-04:002010-06-16T19:17:59.068-04:00The point is that this leftwing idea that Bush was...The point is that this leftwing idea that Bush was widely unpopular in the region is simply not supported by the facts. <br /><br />And he was as popular as leftwing heroes such as Correa, Ortega, and Chavez.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-10385554109706199482010-06-16T19:14:15.010-04:002010-06-16T19:14:15.010-04:00Being very unpopular is not so badly terribly popu...Being very unpopular is not so badly terribly popular! As Vakov Smirnoff would say, what a country!Greg Weekshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15765114859595124082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-69935991036849405422010-06-16T19:03:38.740-04:002010-06-16T19:03:38.740-04:00In fact, since at the time his job approval in the...In fact, since at the time his job approval in the US was in the 20s and 30s Bush may have been more popular in Latin America than in the US!<br /><br />I know, Latin American leftists won't be able to deal with that concept. Or with the idea that Bush was as popular as Chavez in the region.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-9577614023861761072010-06-16T19:00:10.756-04:002010-06-16T19:00:10.756-04:00A little perspective and math is useful here. In a...A little perspective and math is useful here. In a scale from 0 to 10 Bush gets 4.2, basically the same as several other presidents. And Lula, the highest rated, only gets 5.9.<br /><br />More than half the presidents score 5 or lower. That's not much of a difference.<br /><br />In the US if a politician had a 42% approval rate and over half of all politicians had 50% or less, it would make no sense to talk of big differences.<br /><br />Bush was not popular but neither was he as wildly unpopular in Latin America as the left would want to believe.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-10022333761231999862010-06-16T17:15:52.406-04:002010-06-16T17:15:52.406-04:00Wrong. Look at the 2008 report, page 110, which h...Wrong. Look at the 2008 report, page 110, which has figures for 2005-2008 and 2008 alone. Bush was routinely listed as one of the most unpopular presidents in the hemisphere. In 2008, only Daniel Ortega got less love.Greg Weekshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15765114859595124082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-36970729462265643022010-06-16T15:33:05.426-04:002010-06-16T15:33:05.426-04:00A quick check on Latinobarometro shows Bush wasn&#...A quick check on Latinobarometro shows Bush wasn't so unpopular as many think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-82241144476076035652010-06-15T18:07:25.860-04:002010-06-15T18:07:25.860-04:00It is Bushian arrogance in invading Iraq and his p...It is Bushian arrogance in invading Iraq and his posturing on major World issues that made many Latin Americans hate him. <br />The irony is that it had little to do with US policy towards Latin America during the Bush years. For the most part after 2003 it was an indifferent, hands-off approach. There was little of an actual direct cause and effect with anti-US. It was more of a recycling of traditional anti-yanqui attitudes. <br /> <br />In effect, Bush was simply a convenient bogey-man to rail against, with a Chavez or Morales knowing they could get away with it, without serious consequences. Evo pretty much had to do something drastic like kick out the DEA and have mobs almost burn the embassy to get the ATDPEA prefernces overturned, and Chavez' hateroade barely got him a rebuke or two.Boli-Nicahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07416904838567704211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-54918549815485623292010-06-15T17:18:30.308-04:002010-06-15T17:18:30.308-04:00I would argue that Iraq was seen as an extreme exa...I would argue that Iraq was seen as an extreme example of an inflexible, black and white ideology that majority of Latin American did not share.Greg Weekshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15765114859595124082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21674624.post-87626368579912381732010-06-15T12:40:05.038-04:002010-06-15T12:40:05.038-04:00I wasn't living in Latin America for most of t...I wasn't living in Latin America for most of the Bush presidency, but it seems like people often gloss over Iraq as the biggest reason no one liked him here. The Iraq war specifically precipitated serious problems with allies like Chile and Mexico, and the consequent general idea that he was a dangerous warmonger made everyone dislike him, both on the left and the right. His trade policies were bound to rub a significant portion of LA wrong, as was the handling of the Chavez coup, but the one thing that everyone disliked and that everyone remembered was Iraq.pchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13973333514392213258noreply@blogger.com