Earlier today, I was on a Zoom call with an industry peer in Israel. We've been following each other online for over a decade...but had never taken the time to actually talk. This morning we did...and, my Mom taught me better than to start a first conversation with a question about politics. But, given this weekend's ouster of the Israeli Prime Minister, I couldn't help but ask "what's next?"
He described a legislative body with the slimmest of margins and offered a hope that his country, which has gone through four elections in two years, would begin to get back to governing by, as the newspaper Maariv suggested, "the yearning for sanity. The wish of many Israelis to live in quiet, without incitement, without hatred."
It struck me how much that sounded like America...and how much calmer life has been in America since Donald Trump left office. And that most people I know (surely not all), aren't wound as tightly since the inauguration of President Biden. It's as if the government is being led by someone who knows how this all works, instead of someone who was more interesting in Tweeting insults than leading a nation.
And, a Pew Research study about international opinion confirms just that. Today, 62% of those in 16 developed countries have a favorable view of the U.S. That's up from 34% last year. 75% believe Biden will "do the right thing" regarding world affairs. That number was 17% last year.
I know that Americans remain deeply divided...but it's fascinating how the rest of the world views us compared to just last year.
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