It appears that the inauguration of Barack Obama is about to usher in a new era of good feelings toward America. Nowhere will Obama's ascension to the Oval Office mean more than in Kenya, where people feel a very real, if not particularly deep, connection with the President-Elect.
In my own travels throughout the world, whether in Africa or elsewhere. I have found the alleged anti-Americanism that has supposedly been so rampant in the world in the last years to be dramatically overstated. It would be more accurate to say that American policies have engendered hostility, and that hostility has manifested itself more in disappointment than in hatred. As a general rule, people have wanted to engage Americans, and do a good job of differentiating individual Americans from national policy. Of course it is easier to deflect attack if you can articulate grievances with those policies as well or better than those who might be inclined to confront you. Nonetheless, it is easy to misrepresent the anti-American trend, as, I assume, it will be easy to overstate the renaissance of America's reputation in the world.
The United States will continue to have a complex relationship with the rest of the world. We would be naive to think that Barack Obama is going to be a balm to soothe all wounds and the palliative that will alleviate all anxieties.
