going, going, gone

I wonder what the Las Vegas over/under odds are that the EU will still be around in the future. Ten years? Fifteen?

If Bush's trip is any indication, there seems to be a lot of back-pedaling going on re: Europe's reaction to the United States and its cowboy President.

George Bush turned out to be not just a bombs-away Texan, but a visionary of the Woodrow Wilson and FDR stripe, who risked his re-election, the American economy, world oil markets, and his entire legislative agenda on spreading democracy throughout the Middle East, well beyond the wildest dreams of any European utopian.

What happens if a newly aroused United States takes seriously the anti-American rhetoric of the European masses and media rather than the triangulating reassurances of their diplomats? Our elites may lament being cold-shouldered on their hajj to European Oz; yet red-state America is no longer afraid of the suave wizard's booming voice and image on the big screen, but instead has spied out the tiny functionary with his ridiculous levers and dials behind the curtain at the side.

Read the rest.

More on Europe, here, and here.