Podcast Transcript

03 July 2006
USA in the World: Dynamism and Optimism

Embassy London's response to the July 3 Daily Telegraph articles about the YouGov poll results

By Deputy Chief of Misson David T. Johnson at the U.S.Embassy in London

The Daily Telegraph today reported on a YouGov poll about British attitudes which suggests that most Britons disapprove or hold negative images of the United States. Contrary to YouGov polls' conclusions, the polling the Embassy commissioned clearly shows an overall increase in favorable attitudes toward America since 2004. Rather than be swayed by competing polls, we must look at the facts. With respect to the Telegraph article, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair made some tough decisions in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. The United Kingdom, the United States and the world are much safer now because of them. The Taliban no longer control the people of Afghanistan, though there is much work left to do. And we question the judgment of anyone who asserts the world would be a better place with Saddam still terrorizing his own nation and threatening people well beyond Iraq's borders.

With respect to the poll's assertions about American society, we bear some of the blame for not successfully communicating America's extraordinary dynamism. But frankly, so does the media. Where are the newspaper stories that fully explore the incredible ability of American society so successfully to incorporate the largest influx of immigrants in our nation's history? Today, more Americans, as a percentage of our population, are foreign born than at any time since World War One. Where are the stories about America's economic dynamism springing not from the Fortune 100 but from our small and medium-sized enterprises? And where are the stories that clearly communicate just how fast the American economy is growing? The first half of this year alone, just the growth in the American economy has created an economy the size of Belgium's.

So, as we approach the two-hundred and thirtieth anniversary of Independence Day, notwithstanding our challenges, or the YouGov poll, we remain very optimistic about our future.

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