Indian opinion of US in the Bush years

SFtoBLR

I got to wondering how the US is viewed lately in India. I doubt there could be a lower opinion than mine of Bush and US behavior in the world during his presidency. I find it downright embarrassing myself!

PeakXV

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Sama

oh my god, here we go again....

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amarama

So a guy walks into a chai shop and sits down. After a minute the one that possibly speaks the best english, " where you from" ok, I am American. Everyone is yelling, now everyone speaks English. Bush, you know bush. On and on, for days really. If you respond in a manner that is interesting, you have made many many good friends.
A few days later a different guy walks into the same shop, sits down, few minutes later, "where are you from" Canada. All you can hear is the clock on the wall ticking.
There is a lot going on in America, people in India are very smart, well read people and what not. In my travels in India, I never had a problem with an indian because I said I was American. The fact that I was older and not married was a real shock. They are more friendly and curious than anything. No matter how badly we treat the rest of the world. Or our own pwople( Katrina) we will always receive a warm welcome in India. If more American liked Soccer and cricket we would really be in.

PeakXV

No - they'll want to know if you're from Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto because they have family there and will want you to personally courier a letter/parcel back for them - and then they'll say Harper! do you know Harper?

Nick-H

Quite. You are much more likely to find out what the more vociferous IndiaMikers thing about GWB and his America.

America here, is the place to get rich; politics come very low down on people's considerations --- daydreaming about visas and software development jobs is the main consideration.

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SFtoBLR

Sorry, didn't mean to stir anything up or offend. Just curious, honest!

bijapuri

Worldwide-most folks has the same opinion of W. Indians like America and Americans, I've found. Most Indians know someone there

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70s-80s overlander

It's fairly obvious that the post was trolling for negative comments, but what data are available appear to be positive.

The last substantial survey of Indian views, in early 2005 by the Pew Research Center (Washington, DC), found
(1) that 71% of Indians had a favorable view of the US;
(2) that Indians were significantly more positive about the US in early 2005 than they were in the summer of 2002, when 54% gave the US favorable marks;
(3) that 54% of Indians said they had a lot or some confidence that President Bush would generally do the right thing in world affairs.

It must also be noted that under President Bush's watch the economic and defense ties between the US and India have expanded year by year.

The US government, under President Bush's direction, loaned personnel to the Indian government to build an international finance center in Mumbai, that will enhance India's ability to interact on equal terms with financial centers like New York and London.

The US government, under President Bush's direction, shared expertise with India for the organization of India's avian influenza research labs at Bhopal.

Etc, etc.

For both the US government and the Indian government, this is not a popularity contest. President Bush and Prime Minister Singh have to do what they think is right regardless of whether their actions are popular on a day by day basis, as long as they hold the legal responsibility delegated to them via their political parties having won the previous election.

Clearly, the global war on terrorism and the triangle of relationships between India, Pakistan, and the US complicate everything, but there is no way to avoid India and the US having increasing intergovernmental cooperation and economic ties in the coming decades.

As the saying goes, "when the US catches a cold, the world sneezes". President Bush has an impact on India; President-whoever-gets-elected in November 2008 will have an impact on India; before long we will know whether the Indian people miss or do not miss President Bush's considerable encouragement of Indian initiatives -- that, obviously, have to benefit both countries.

Ignite

Isnt this a revised saying of "When Paris sneezes, Europe catches cold." by Metternich.


I'd really like to see the citations for stats given above. Also, I'm pretty darn sure that opinions have changed quite a bit since 2005, even in India, because of the fact that it has been proved that Bush and his administration lied about Iraq possessing WMD and Saddam having connections with the Al Qaeda
And also that Bush has been lying about Iran wanting Nuclear energy to produce Nuclear Weapons, when in fact they had the choice to make Nuclear weapons since 2005, but they only developed the technology for energy purposes (CIA report came out on this during the later 2007 or early 2008).

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Nick-H

Since 2005? There may or may not be new data, but I would have thought that data that old on this subject would be positively mouldy! Regardless of my own personal opinion, I would say that general opinions of the man have taken a huge downturn in just the past few years. I wonder if even his own party would want him to have another term in office, if that were possible.

Having left a smoking crater of the place, US plants a flower or two. If you are trying to give good PR for USA/Bush and India relations, that is not exactly a good place to mention!

It seems, from my general news-reading, that GWB is considered to be the most pro-India US Prez of recent times --- so I guess that is the answer to the question!

Ignite

Hmmmm....I always thought Bill Clinton was actually a lot more pro-India that Bush; he even visited India after he was out of office didn't he? But that's just from my general news-reading

Munivar

Other than the communist party and the extreme Islamist clerics and their rabble-rousing followers most Indians like the US. The younger ones especially. They are not that aware of Bush's disastrous internal policies like Gitmo, patriot acts, Katrina, the torture fiasco, the attorney general fiasco etc etc (I guess we can go on listing...).

For them, the general improvement of their economic condition is associated with India's improving relations with the US. They think Bush has facilitated this..hence they like Bush (compared to what many other countries think about Bush). The facts may be different (how Bush's foreign policies are affecting Indian options with Pakistan, did Bush really help the economic improvement of India..or did it just happen by itself due to market forces)....but perception is reality and Bush enjoys a good perception with many Indians.

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Munivar

I would disagree. Slick Willie made the right noises but the actual policies were more of the same. It was his asst. under secy Robin Raphael, who helped the Hurriyat movement (pro secessionist) claim legitimate political stance to the discredited armed militant stance.

He even toes the Pakistani line that the Chattisinghpura massacre of 30 odd sikhs in Kashmir was done by Hindu militant groups. He says that in Madeline Albrights book "The Mighty and the Almighty : Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs."

He may have changed after his term...but I don't find him "pro-India" when he was president.

the opoponax

This is exactly what I experienced. Very few questions or comments on US politics, but I definitely saw dollar signs in some eyes. Most comments were very shallow and mainly neutral: "You like Hillary Clinton?" "America very good country!" Bush came up a couple times, but in a pretty simple and non-judgmental ways.

Most well educated middle class folks I met simply didn't bring up politics at all, or did so in a very polite and non-confrontational way.