On September 12, 2001, the French newspaper La Monde headlined "We Are All Americans Today", or something like that.  That was certainly the global sentiment.  Everybody was united with us, and we Americans were united.

Incredible how five years of Bush policies have not only divided the country, but turned our longstanding friends and allies into rampant America-haters.  It’s really isn’t much of a surprise, given the whole "fuck you, world" dismissive attitude that’s displayed by the present adminsitration and it’s supporters.

Fortunately, someone is doing something about it:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With anti-American sentiment at unprecedented levels around the world, Americans worried about their country’s low standing are pushing a grassroots campaign to change foreign perceptions of the United States "one handshake at a time."

The idea is to turn millions of Americans into "citizen diplomats" who use personal meetings with foreigners to counter the ugly image of the United States shown in a series of international public opinion polls. They show widespread negative attitudes not only toward U.S. policies but also toward the American people and, increasingly, even American products.

To stem the relentless decline of America’s international standing — a dramatic change from the almost universal sympathy for the country immediately after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington –leaders of more than 30 civic organizations formed a "Coalition for Citizen Diplomacy" two years ago.

The coalition, a loose alliance of national, state and community groups, held its first national summit in July in Washington, where speakers deplored the sorry state of the U.S. image but expressed hope that individual action and international people-to-people exchanges could go a long way toward improving things.

The powers behind this movement include major businesses, like Exxon and McDonalds, who realize that anti-American sentiment hurts business.  And their right.