On this day, let us all be proud of America

For what it's worth: the general sentiment on the other side of the Atlantic is pretty much as follows:As long as Bush was in office, not having major problems totally escalate in the short term(Middle East, global warming, fossil fuels, financial crisis etc. etc.) was the best one could hope for. Damage control. With this new guy in town, the future no longer looks like an inescapable dark abyss. It looks like there grows some grass (not yet sure how green it will be) on the other side of the hill, at least. One never ever had the feeling, not even for a microsecond, that George W. would ever be able to inspire anyone or bring people *together* in some way.Also though, to be fair to Bush, it's probably a lot harder to change course (and being accused of flip-flopping) than to be able to start from scratch.