Based on what parameters? Opinion polls? Opinion articles? Loud indignant speeches in the U.N. from nations whose only apparent significance is their ability to say things in the U.N.? Most of those putting on airs have very little to say about "moral leadership" in their own countries. You might want to catch up with a few speech rights issues going on in Canada right now.

Most of what I hear about this "prestige" issue is from liberals and leftists around the world who have always thought we were a cancer on the planet, and just took advantage of another opportunity to hoot about it. Remember, I saw all of this through eight years of Reagan, too.

I have seen no impacts on any serious relations with other nations. No major leader has refused to meet with Bush, or booted out our diplomats. Nobody has stopped trading with us, or buying our products. Nobody has kicked our military bases out of their countries. Nobody has discouraged American tourism. I went through France during the height of the Iraq War, and didn't get one bit of hostile treatment. To the best of my knowledge, nobody has even renamed American cheese something else in Europe.

If you tally up the countries, most of our regular allies are still on pretty good terms with us. In fact, we haven't been on better terms with France in a long time, which sort of implies the problem wasn't really on our end in the first place.

Other than this all-important "approval," what actual negative consequences have there been?

Without reading the tirades in the media, and just looking at the data of international relations, you'd never know anybody in Europe had a problem with us.