With Obama as president, will Americans get a warmer reception overseas?

That’s the question posed to Rolf Potts over at World Hum, and I think his response hits the spot. More than anything, he takes issue with the question’s premise– that Americans aren’t treated very well when they travel abroad. He writes:

“As disastrous as the Bush presidency has been for America’s international reputation, individual American travelers have been doing just fine on the road. I’ve traveled more or less nonstop for the past eight years, and I can attest that people the world over are pretty good at discerning individual Americans from American politics.”

For what it’s worth, according to a new survey by STA Travel of 10,000 students who have traveled abroad in the past year, over 41% of respondents believed that the Obama presidency will improve American travelers’ experiences abroad.

Perhaps. Most of my fellow international travelers were certainly happy about Obama’s election on my most recent trip, and they congratulated me that my country had finally shown some “good sense.” But I can’t say their kind words about my country’s most recent presidential election really made my trip any more enjoyable. I was, after all, still asked to answer for this.

Read Rolf’s whole answer here.