Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's approval rating is at 5.8% -- that makes W look downright popular. So I guess you could say that we’ve found a president more hated than Bush.
When I was in Taipei last week, I had dinner with about 8 local business associates. We were in a private dining room, and they spoke openly of their disdain for Shui-bian, saying he was “shady,” “crazy” and perhaps “stupid.”
I can honestly say that I have never heard anyone call Bush crazy (except maybe for terrorists in one of their messages) but I have heard him called a “dry drunk,” mainly by recovering alcoholics.
Interesting thing happened: I went with our Taipei consultant to Hong Kong, where the conversation continued in a hotel lobby with some friends from HK. At one point, the consultant said, “I’m in public, I shouldn’t talk about him,’ to which one of the HK people said, “it’s okay, you’re in Hong Kong.”
I found it interesting and meant to ask the consultant about that later: can you not speak openly of Shui-bian in Taiwan? I thought of the US, and how I say stuff about W, though if I’m in a social setting, I hold back to avoid offending my Republican friends. Okay, I don’t do that, really, I just wanted to see what it looked like to write that.
The best thing about going to Asia is that it makes me appreciate the US. Asia is the new It Girl for sure, it’s economy is booming and so much US business is going there. We rank at the top of countries that import from there, so you would think they love us, but I get the feeling in talking to my Asian pals that they see the US as we see Britney Spears: a bloated has-been who is a little ridiculous. I don’t see us that way, but in talking to Asians, it’s a real eye-opener to see how we are viewed.
And, in my Carrie Bradshaw moment, I had an epiphany: sometimes, to feel patriotic, you have to sit in coach for 15 hours, eat Chicken feet and fish maw for a week, listen to stories about a crazy Taiwanese leader, and live without Weight Watchers 1 point yogurt.
America is great: insult Bush freely and enjoy the freedom.
Caveat to that: if Taylor Hicks wins American Idol, either the show is rigged or Americans have awful taste, worse than Chen Shui-bian even, and that is darn bad.
