New American Leadership, Same American Leadership Style: Do As You Are Told.

Times change, of course. It wasn’t so long ago that the American left wondered why Democrats in Congress couldn’t “stand up” to the Bush administration in the way that, say, France and Germany opposed the American-led War in Iraq. Now that the worm has turned in Washington, of course, everything is different. Why won’t those annoying europeans do as they’re told?

This time it is the failure of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, among others, to endorse the Americans’ “solution” to the financial crisis that is irritating pundits in Washington and New York.

Hence, Michael Tomasky*: “confidence has never been especially great here in the states that, even with Obama’s massive worldwide popularity, European nations would just do what America wants.” Oh noes!

Hence, Ezra Klein warning that Germany’s concerns about fiscal “stimulus” may not be “absurd” but they’re still an argument for “letting the world’s economy collapse.