Whatever happened to America's influence?

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

With his unique multicultural background and soaring rhetoric, President Obama was seen as the perfect antidote to George W. Bush's presidency, which was perceived as having soiled America's Image abroad.

 

Foreign crowds treated Obama like a rock star, in some cases ecstatic about his rise as the son of a Kenyan exchange student to lead the world's most powerful nation, and about the promise of a new, less combative outlook from Washington.

 

Some 200,000 people showed up in July 2008, before he had even taken office, to listen to his oration at the Brandenburg Gate, in Berlin. Political candidates in Brazil adopted his name to capitalize on his immense popularity among voters there.

 

But the rock star has faded.

 

Around the world, Obama's presidency has damaged the Image and interests of the United States among governments and populations, even those traditionally considered allies. Some of those who criticized Bush's policies now look back with relative respect to his tenure