Obama's Enemies List: A Growing List of Obama's Enemies

BOSTON — Visiting the United States this month after several years as an expatriate in France, I am fascinated to see this giant American bubble inside which live 310 million people, about half of them contented and half of them permanently angry at something. Of course one must be cautious in comparing civilizations but the peculiarities of the United States leap out at you — ils sautent aux yeux , as the French say, they jump at your eyes. I say “bubble” because in three weeks of schmoozing with relatives and friends, most of them accomplished professionals, I sense a drift toward willful isolationism. Iraq and Afghanistan have never come up in conversation without my prodding. Only a cab driver volunteered an opinion and that was on corruption among military contractors. “These thieves make my skin crawl,” he said, taking three fives from me for a short ride across town. The suburbs of Boston are probably typical of the educated U.S. population so I have taken them as representative. One Sudbury matron explained to me her apathy about American wars by the fact that she and her friends know no one personally involved. “It all seems to abstract,” she said. She seemed equally