PARIS — In the Western part of Europe — the part that former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld maliciously labeled "Old Europe" — almost every government is in deep political trouble.
The United Kingdom's new coalition government may be the exception — for now. In the European Union's big member states, the popularity ratings of leaders — Nicolas Sarkozy in France, Silvio Berlusconi in Italy, Angela Merkel in Germany and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Spain — hover around 25 percent or worse.
Whether it is conservatives like Sarkozy, Christian Democrats like Merkel, rightwing populists like Berlusconi or socialists like Zapatero, political affiliation appears to make no difference. If you hold office in Europe nowadays, you are in trouble.