The liberal Guardian summed up the
concern in a commentary under the headline "Fireworks in Washington, despair around the world." It compared the massive fireworks display used in the inauguration celebration to the ordnance US "occupation forces" would expend in Iraq in 24 hours. Bitter, no? Maybe you shouldn't try to interfere in our internal politics next time, bub.
"The president and his speechwriters have yet to confront the tension between their rhetoric about freedom, which is universally popular, and their practice of projecting US firepower, which is resented in equal measure," it said. "That explains why, on the very day when the president set forward his mission to bring liberty to the world, a poll revealed that a large majority of its inhabitants believe that he will actually make it more dangerous," it said.
Blah, blah, blah. Etc, etc, etc