I was at an event in Paris recently entitled "Barack Obama's first 100 days." Despite being sponsored by the University of Chicago, the conference was in French and largely addressed a French audience. I was struck by something one of the French panelists said during this round table, when someone pointed out that Americans seemed uninterested in things French or European: "Well," the panelist said, after a pause, (and as if this was true but irrelevant), "We (the French) are standing on the balcony of history after all, watching you, the players (meaning us, the Americans). Why would you look up at the audience?"

Why indeed? Well, I think the panelist was trying hard to ignore something that is more and more obvious and that Barack Obama's coming visit to Europe will undoubtedly highlight: Europeans might be standing on the balcony, but their leaders have been on stage for quite some time. Their playbook (at least recently) was largely choreographed by George W. Bush. Obama has his work cut out for him.

Ever since the fall of communism, Europe, instead of coming together and forming a culturally and political cohesive entity, has, in one of the more ironic turns of history, splintered along the same lines that had been artificially imposed by the USSR. I've touched on this in recent blogs and got a little flak for pointing out how unpopular bailout is in Europe because of flagging Eastern European economies. But bailouts on a European scale are also unpopular for another reason: George W. Bush shunned his longtime Western allies in 2003 and embraced the former communist countries.   This was a slap in the face to Western European countries and they are still massaging the bruise today.

Fair enough one could say, but the past is the past. You get over these things and move on. But this was no ordinary slap. Bush's administration (and it's debatable how much they knew about the riffs) were essentially capitalizing on a long series of mutual disappointments that had slowly riven Europe. It's common knowledge now that after the honeymoon period in the early 1990s, Eastern Europe was shell shocked by what rapidly came to be considered Western shallowness and egotism. Having been deprived of the dizzying array of choices that characterize market economies, Eastern Europeans had long cultivated a kind of warmth and affection for the past, for their poetry, literature and languages and they had developped a keen sense of social solidarity with one another. In many ways these societies were very rich culturally, despite the five year plans and bleak architecture.

And in counries with secret police who are this active, people learn to look between the lines and judge one another. So it's understandable they would be blinded by the glitter of capitalism and find it hollow.

The West by contrast had its own set of shocks. First hailed as saviours, they were miffed to discover that the East found them boorish and egotistical and they thought it was incredibly naive of Easterners to expect so much depth from McDonald's and Luis Vuitton. Easterners seemed maddenly incurious about where to look for cultural and depth and they showed visible disdain for the "flashy" materialism of Westerners. Both found the other naive and ungrateful in a way. Add to this, the real economic strain Eastern economies suddenly imposed upon Western ones and you have a situation ripe for exploitation by outside observers.

So when the Iraq war came up and the ally needy George Bush began to look for friends in unlikey places (anyone remember George Bush's famous 'You forgot Poland' remark when Kerry criticized the Iraq war coalition?), Europe suddenly fell off the balcony in a nasty family spat that Obama's election has only accentuated.

For anyone following the European response to this, you'll remember that when the Vilnius Ten, publicly pledged its support for the US in 2003, Western Europe (mainly France and Germany) awoke from its spectator like drowse and Jacques Chirac, in one of his more spectacular overreaching (and overbearing) moments, cuffed the East in a somewhat humiliating public putdown on the international stage. The French president publicly stated (in a sentence that has become legendary here) that Eastern Europe had just wasted a golden opportunity to keep its fat mouth shut (I'm really not exaggerating) his rhetoric was that strong. 

Well, not alot has changed since then. Eastern Europe is still a darling of conservative right wing groups. Czech Prime Minister (and sort of EU President) Mirek Topolanek gave a speech at the Heritage Foundation in February. Reading his speech is like going back in time, to those days when Saddam's "threat" to the West was supposed to mean something. France and Germany are still smarting from having been shunned and criticized by the US, and they have embraced Obama with a kind of gusto that can only mean they want to send a message as well to their Eastern brethren who have been rather cool to Obama and nostalgic about the good old days when neoconservatives were proud of their name. Many Eastern European politicians are downright disappointed and shocked that someone like Obama has been elected. Does anyone remember the far right Polish legislator who called Obama's election "the end of white civilisation?" (the Polish government subsequently condemned his remarks).

It will be interesting to see how Obama navigates all of this during his trip and if he will succeed during his presidency, in mending some of these divides. Looks like post partisanship might come to have meaning over here as well...