HOW OTHERS SEE US. Der Spiegel sagt 'Obama Comes Across as Cold, Arrogant and Elitist'. There's a variety of opinion on offer. Even in translation, it's clear that the Germans don't get the Leave Us Alone Coalition.

Another article from the same magazine makes an instructive comparison.

When America is feeling self-confident and optimistic it can adore this kind of president, like John F. Kennedy was idolized during the Camelot era. However, an America that is uncertain and at odds with itself can find it hard to place its trust in someone who seems so perfect. That too helps to explain why so many people see the former community worker as a member of the establishment -- someone who is allegedly in cahoots with Wall Street and who doesn't take care of ordinary people.

One may find it ironic, unfair even, that the Republicans are profiting from this. But Obama must realize that he himself is part of the problem. That is his only chance of repeating Bill Clinton's success. Clinton shifted towards the center following the crushing defeat for his Democrats in the 1994 Congressional elections.

In the Fourth Turning scheme of things, Mr Kennedy took office toward the end of a High. He was not quite the right man to manage the beginning of a secular challenge to the existing order, but then, neither were Presidents Johnson nor Nixon. Mr Obama is taking office toward the end of an Unraveling. That's approximately the position Herbert Hoover and James Buchanan found themselves in.