I am currently in Iceland.? Iceland is a country that has a sprawling and amazing landscape.? It is filled with large mountains throughout, an uninhabitable middle as it is filled with an enormous glacier, and friendly well-educated people.? It boasts all-day sunlight for much of the summer months?and almost all-day darkness for much of the winter months.? It has a population of approximately 300,000 people and is approximately the size of Kentucky or England.

The politics of Iceland are quite similar to other republics.? The president is elected to a four-year term and is more a figurehead?position which has limited powers. The president is not the head of the government, it is rather the?Prime Minister. There have been five presidents since Iceland gained independence from Denmark in 1944. The incumbent is Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who is now in his fourth term as president having been first elected in 1996 and running unopposed in the most recent election.? His second wife is an Israeli-born woman, who has brought a middle-eastern influence to Iceland.? The President?swiftly criticized other nations for not coming to Iceland’s aid in the most recent economic struggle (the country’s “bankruptcy”) and has made bold statements on the topic stating that Iceland will pull out of this mess before the U.S. and Britain come out of their recessions.? As a tourist to this nation and spending over a week here already, this country is in no sign of distress and in fact, has more of a hustle and bustle than New York City seems to have today.?

I am not a person who believes that our world image is as high on the priority list as others, but I do think it is important.? The world continues to see us a bit as the laughing stock of the world because we elected George W. Bush to be our President.? I also saw this last year when I spent a week and a half in Croatia.? It’s not just that they disagree with his policies (which I am less sympathetic too, as I believe many of his policies were hard decisions, but necessary), more importantly, they mock him as a person.? In a nation where most people speak English fluently,?Icelanders really understand his communication blunders.? You can just get a huge sense of that from walking the streets of Reykjavik to the small northern towns where t-shirts insult him or bumper stickers mock him.? Take a completely?opposite?leader, President Obama.? Here in Iceland, people seem to love him.? While I disagree thusfar with many of his actions and most of his policies, his view worldwide seems to be that he is a visionary.? For one of the last industrialized nations to abolish slavery, so many are impressed that the United States has elected an African-American to its highest office.? He is well-spoken and academic.? There is something to be gained from this.? President Obama should use this influence to really enroll the nations of the world to help him in finishing Iraq, Afghanistan and really taking a stand on issues such as terrorism, AIDS and poverty and genocide in places such as Darfur.? At this point, he has not done so and I hope he uses this “political capital” effectively to bring about real policy changes throughout the World.? Otherwise, I believe ultimately, his legacy in the world will be no greater than George W. Bush’s.