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Then And Now: Canadians Welcomed Bush With Violent Protests, Raise American Flags For Obama

Today, President Obama arrived in Canada, his first foreign trip since taking office. Already, the trip is a stark departure from the Bush years. U.S. presidents have traditionally made their first trip abroad to Canada. President Bush, however, broke with tradition and headed south to Mexico.

Already, there’s been a noticeable difference in the way the Canadian public has received the two presidents. Bush was wildly unpopular in Canada. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who supported the Iraq war (and later admitted it was a mistake), was lambasted by Canadians as supporting “Harper-Bush” policies. Not surprisingly, Bush’s visits to Canada spurred massive protests:

Early Crowds Await Obama,” the Toronto Star reads today. “American flags are being hung up around Ottawa in preparation” for Obama’s visit, reports the Ottawa Citizen. Some of the stories today:

Bush’s unpopularity endures well past the end of his tumultuous presidency. “When George W. Bush makes one of his first post White House speeches in Calgary, [he] will be greeted by a special welcoming committee — protesters determined to voice their displeasure with his eight-year reign and the subsequent fallout,” the Calgary Herald reported this week.

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Update:

CNN’s Ed Henry updates his Twitter from Canada:

@edhenrycnn Along motorcade route, one handmade sign said, “After God, It’s Obama”. Sharp contrast from protests here in Bush years

[featuredcomment]Curlew Says:

How refreshing. If Canada can begin to respect us again after 8 disasterous years of Bush “governance” there’s hope that by the end of Barack’s first term much of the rest of the world will respect us again also. Amazing what diplomacy based on mutual respect rather than bullying tactics can produce.

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