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I had the good fortune to be in Rome, Italy this past weekend, a place as recently as last June that was embarrassed by and hostile towards, the United States of America. European eyes narrowed when the name Bush was brought into a conversation, almost never by me, my wife or our American friends. But on this most recent visit, while attending a Pilates conference, we were invited to a Thank You Dinner, filled with Europeans from a half dozen countries and hosted by one of the Italian sponsors in a really cool restaurant where the owner rushed about from dioner to diner, her green hair and canvas Converse sneakers a blur or good-natured activity.
When it came time for the gifts to be handed out, bottles of fine Italian wines and hand made scarves, there was much ooing and aahing and grateful applause.
But when the owner of an American Pilates equipment manufacturer stood up to give a return gift to the Italian sponsor – we could not imagine what the American representative would bestow on our host. The American told the room that he could not think of a more appropriate gift purchased in a Washington D.C. gift shop, something brand new on the market: a Barack Obama Action Figure! Well the room broke into an ear-shattering roar and applause that even the other diners, those not part of our group, joined with us. Shouts and cries and clapping that went on and on as the eight inch tall action figure of our next president was held aloft for all to see. We are once again a beautiful hope for most of the world, a hope that’s been dimmed, nearly crushed in the eyes of our European friends who have, for eight years, felt forsaken by selfishness, arrogance, mean-spiritedness and hubris. America, I am here to tell you that we are back.
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