The difference in reception between his visit and that of Bush is astounding.

http://today.yougov.co.uk/politics/obamas-state-visit-uk

I can't say I hold quite as positive a view of Obama as my fellow countrymen, but he's definitely better than Bush.

It can't just be the typical grass-is-greener sentiment, because look at how much we hated Bush

The full data: http://today.yougov.co.uk/sites/today.yougov.co.uk/files/yg-archives-pol-channel4-obamavisitcompared_bush-250511.pdf

Im from Europe and we loved Obama when he was new. But after all he is just an other illuminati puppet.
Too afraid to do what he promised

Much like Pierre Trudeau, Barack Obama is a shallow incompetent leader who is loved because he is charasmatic and people are far too ignorant to know any better ... and, no matter how poorly he does and how much damage he does to the country, he will be repeatedly voted among the "Best presidents ever" by people who couldn't name a single accomplishment of his; and couldn't cite a single way that he is different or worse than "The Devil" George W. Bush.

This speaks a lot about Europe, not just about the difference between Obama and Bush.

You're not implying he's a mediocre President because he downgraded the importance of the US relationship to the UK, do you?

The UK was symbolically and politically very important to USA as a reliable and strong ally in the war on terrorism under the Bush era, but that's about it as I see it.

^ That's very interesting as that's just one giant conspiracy, who knows maybe you're right maybe obama's tied in with the free masons too?

I would say that's more down to Cameron and that fact that (even though he's a wet leftist liberal-lover) he has something resembling a backbone, unlike Tony Blair. He's not a slave to American foreign policy.

I wouldn't say the status of the Relationship has really changed. It's still important. He still called us first when he'd killed bin Laden. He certainly hasn't improved it, though. Of course, when you look at the man most likely to challenge him in 2012 - Ron Paul - he begins to look like Benedict Arnold

I would agree that he's "Intelligent" and "Articulate", but I would add "Weak" or "Indecisive" as the third descriptor. He's a very intelligent man and an excellent speaker, just not a great President (though, of course, better than Bush Jr).

Which begs the question: Why, exactly, do we all love Obama so much?

I like him as a person. He does seem sincere. He has his head in the right place. He's a good speaker, he's charismatic, and (from an objective point of view) he's good looking. Since the majority of people don't really care about such dull things as policies or economic success, especially when they don't live in the country, I would say that's the reason.

I'm disappointed, but not surprized, by these numbers. It's amazing how much influence an effective PR team can have - particularly overseas where his incompetencies aren't felt as badly as they would be at home.

I felt US-UK relations were stronger in the Bush era, but most likely as someone pointed out, we were America's bitch.

I think Obama is OK, nothing special, I wanted Clinton to win!! Girl power