Pope, President, and Protestors

President Bush meets Pope Benedict XVI for the first time. The meeting was peaceful, but 10,000 Italian police officers were on hand to keep the massive protest outside the Vatican under control.

Such protests are commonplace whenever the President travels throughout the world. And its probably safe to say that every U.S. President has dealt with international hostility. Yet there's something about the specific rhetoric against this American President that is worth noticing. Here's a protestor speaking about Mr. Bush: “There are a lot of people who are here to demonstrate their opposition to overpowering and violence personified by the man who is here, welcomed with great honor as a friend, while instead he should be treated for what he is: that is an assassin responsible of the worst crimes."

And it goes without saying that this is the opinion of the majority of the world. George W. Bush, rightly or wrongly, has become a world symbol for violence and aggression. Whether we agree with specific foreign policy actions over the past six years or not, this should cause us extreme unease.