Iraq still dragging us down...

Perhaps when Bush is out of office we'll be viewed more positively. But then again it'll depend on who's in the White House next year & if we start pulling out of Iraq sometime in the near (v. later, i.e. 100 years later per McCain) future...Time will tell.

I agree that once Bush leaves office, the standing of the US internationally should increase, but if McCain is President, it won't increase as much as if it would be if Obama won.

That being said, sometimes the Ambassador that is appointed to a country has a lot of effect. The US ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, is one of the first political appointees to Canada, rather than a career diplomat, and it shows. A couple of years ago, he basically said that Canada should do what they're told by the US. He has also critisized Canada's social safety net, medicare, called our armed forces "less than adequate" (which is some ways I agree, but it is a slap in the face to the men and women who have fought, and died in Afghanistan), and "warned" Canada about re-opening the energy supply guarantees in NAFTA, should the next president try to renegotiate it.

I think that the voice of the US Gov't here in Canada has done just as much harm to the opinion of the US gov't than Bush has.

Lksimcoe, the stench from the arrogance (& bullying to be blunt) of intl US representatives (especially those appointed by the current administration) is just fkcuing nauseating!