“Accept No Substitutions!”: Danish Version
The Danish press is also wise to George W. Bush’s attempts to have himself labeled a latter-day Ronald Reagan. (This is something discussed first with respect to the Dutch/Flemish press in my previous €S entry; I’m making this entry separate to preserve this site’s “Category” integrity.) A good example of this comes from Klaus Justsen, US correspondent for the mainstream daily Jyllands-Posten (Bush Suns Himself in Reagan’s Light).
Any boost to the current president’s popularity, Justsen assures us, will be only temporary; the similarities between the two politicians are but superficial, while the differences are deep. Reagan created respect for the US internationally; Bush has dissipated that. And, again, Reagan was willing to work with Democrats, while Bush has rather turned out to be the “Great Divider” (“those who are not with us, are against us”). What’s more, some think that the past week actually turned out to be essentially a wash for Bush, with the bad balancing out the good – the “bads” being the pictures of Reagan’s coffin and the reportage over “Where is it now?” crowding out the photos and accounts of Bush hobnobbing with world leaders which he ordinarily would have gained from the Normandy ceremonies and the G8 meeting, as well as public suspicion over the usurping Reagan’s legacy that could create an opinion backlash.
