America. And what it reveals is that the left's antipathy toward America is not policy based at all. If Wikileaks' heavily edited helicopter video at least allowed the left to pretend that it was opposing American war crimes, the leaked diplomatic cables are based on nothing more than opposing American diplomacy. Not even the capital D diplomacy, but the small letter diplomacy. The minor observations, petty notes and random scribbles of a bored diplomatic corps observing well known situations.

The diplomatic cable leaks were not broadcast to protest against the war, or to undermine a right wing government-- they were broadcast because Anti-Americanism is a compulsive need. While American liberals fancy that the right man in D.C. can make the world love us, their own comrades internationally need an America to hate. If an America didn't exist, they would have to invent it. A more confident pro-American leader like Bush may stir up more venom and outrage, but America was not beloved under Clinton. And it's not adored under Obama. If Che were dug up, pumped full of zombie juice and stuck in the oval office-- the red che t-shirt wearing crowd would be burning American flags anyway.

During the Bush era, the chattering classes liked to believe that America's PR problem was fixable. But America's PR problem exists because it is a global superpower. The problem isn't the War on Terror or McDonalds or Hollywood or the dollar. Or any of it apart. It's all of it together. There's no fix for it, except to dethrone America. Turn it into a has-been, a former empire feeding off the good graces of others and opening its historical institutions to tourism. That won't fix the problem. The UK is not exactly all that beloved either. But it will dial down the obsessive hatred to a dull roar.

As the first fully Anti-American leader to sit at the helm of the country, Barack Hussein Obama is self-aware enough to understand that it is not any single element, but the perception of America as a global power in every arena that feeds that hatred. And it is why he's done everything to weaken American power and independence across every spectrum, from its economy to its military to its space program and its culture. But even a wholly anti-American leader wasn't enough to fix the PR problem.

The willingness of the American left to cheer Assange on shows that not only couldn't America Lite (TM) win over Europe's leftists, but it couldn't even win over their slower and pudgier American counterparts. But what's the basis of their opposition? Do they really believe that diplomats shouldn't be able to privately report their assessment of what is going on in another country? And would they be willing to apply the same standard to journalists or NGO officials? Obviously not.

The romance of Wikileaks has little to do with policy, and a good deal to do with anti-Americanism as an emotional response, sticking it to "The Man", even when you are the man. Especially if you are the man.