I want those who are ranting about foreign ownership and Arab ownership, etc, to consider one possible, legitmate source of their antagonism to the outside world: the outside world. I have been in the trenches of Europe dealing with the anti-American crap for years. All the world’s woes are set at our feet, we can do no right and we are always demeaned. The Middle east especially maintained control through bashing the West, and America in particular.  This is a problem that has grown and made it harder and harder to show a mutual respect to our international partners.  France’s back stabbing on Iraq still colors our relationship.
While the media pounces on Bush’s warnings about terrorists as the source of angst, it is more than that. It is decades of EU and ME bashing of America’s heart and soul. So while the xenophobia I see is many times not based on bigotry, it can be based on being fed up trying to work with the world when all the world does is whine about America’s success.

While this frustrates me, I see no point in stooping down to the level of nationalism and jingoism in response. The response to the DPW issue was still wrong. But there is a case to be made that the world fed this animosity over the years of America bashing.  There was no reason to use DPW ethnic and religous make up to find potential risks – none.  Just like we don’t like it when America is smeared with the worst of our people, we should not return the favor as payback.  Something the protectionists need to assess is what is motivating their fear and willingness to only recognize the negative indicators and ignore the more realistic and numerous positive indicators.