Bush is despised by the pampered sophisticated elites in the West, but he is adored by people who have recently emerged from the darkness of oppression, or are still toiling in its grip. We might ask why that is. What do people who have known soul-grinding tyranny see in George Bush what left-wing secular elites don't?
No doubt part of the Albanians' enthusiasm for Bush is explained by the fact that he represents the United States, which, under Bill Clinton, acted to relieve the horrible nightmare that ethnic Albanians were experiencing under the Serbs in Kosovo. The Albanian gratitude to the U.S. is expressing itself in declarations of love for its President. Surely that's part of it.
But in addition perhaps another part is that those who have been ground down by the boot of the tyrant see in George Bush someone who will actually do something about their misery other than just talk about it. No world leader in history has liberated more people from oppression than has George Bush - 50 million in Afghanistan and Iraq - and, while most of the world seems indifferent to the misery of those who suffer under dictators of various sorts or content themselves with passing meaningless resolutions, Bush gives hope to the shackled masses throughout the globe that they may be next.
Bush symbolizes hope to a greater extent than any European or Middle Eastern leader, and people who give others a reasonable hope exert a powerful pull upon their affections.
RLC
