Munich, Germany – Gallup announced Wednesday that just 32 percent of Americans are satisfied with the position of the United States in the world today, and 45 percent believe other countries perceive the U.S. favorably — “both little changed from last year, when George W. Bush was still president.”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. When Obama went on his midsummer world tour, foreign leaders fell over themselves to get in photo-ops with the Democratic nominee, and a crowd of hundreds of thousands packed a park in Berlin to hear Obama speak.

Displays of Obama biographies are as prominent in bookstores in Munich are they are in most of America — though a newsstand at the Munich Airport strangely spotlights a magazine story entitled “Barack Is In The [White] House” under the sign “Science Fiction/Fantasy.” Almost overnight, the Obama administration has announced plans for a lot of policy changes the Europeans have been demanding for years: a new focus on climate change, a determination to reach out to Iran, a pledge to shut down the military prisons at Guantanamo and end waterboarding, a “reset” on the relationship with Russia (a country that invaded a NATO applicant), and a shift — bordering on outright cancellation — of missile-defense deployment. In gratitude, what are the Europeans offering? The Obama administration expects help in return: “America will do more. That’s the good news,” Biden told the Munich Security Conference. “The bad news is that America will ask for more from our partners as well.” Biden’s speech provoked applause, and garnered attention in the American media, but European leaders haven’t been matching Obama promise-for-promise. Take Obama’s request for more NATO troops for Afghanistan: Spain and France declined, and it looks like German chancellor Angela Merkel and her party will do anything to avoid another debate about sending more soldiers (national elections loom in September). The American media was less eager to cover this development — the Spanish and French refusals made page A12 of February 11’s Washington Post. In fact, in Germany, the debate is shifting away from “what more can we do?” entirely, and toward “when can we leave?” Merkel’s immediate predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, wrote in the Spiegel that “the question of how much longer this is supposed to last is also appropriate. I believe that the Bundeswehr’s mission can be ended within 10 years. . . . A timeframe must be set for troop withdrawal.” With Obama in office, it is increasingly clear that Europe’s reluctance to send more troops to the world’s trouble spots had less to do with President Bush’s “cowboy” ways than with voting populaces that are effectively pacifist. French president Nicolas Sarkozy attended the Munich Security Conference and managed to put the issue surprisingly bluntly: “Does Europe want peace, or does it want to be left in peace?” A member of the British parliament responded by saying her constituents clearly wanted to be left in peace. While Obama’s new friends may not be willing to help when it counts, his policy shifts are effectively punishing old friends — allies who put themselves out on a limb for the previous administration’s positions. President Bush’s policy on missile defense was clear; deploy it as soon as possible to deter Iran from threatening Europe, even though it infuriates the Russians. Obama’s policy is a fog, declaring that it will only pursue “proven” missile defense, and appears to be slowing deployment. In an interview with Russian media, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns seemed to suggest that missile defense could be abandoned if Russia helped pressure Iran on its nuclear program: “As we pursue the issue of missile defense, we obviously have to take into account a number of factors — whether the system works and whether it’s cost-effective, and what’s the nature of the threat. If through strong diplomacy with Russia and our other partners we can reduce or eliminate that threat, it obviously shapes the way at which we look at missile defense.” (It’s interesting that Burns sets the goal of “reducing” the threat of America’s enemies mounting nuclear weapons on missiles, not eliminating it.) By agreeing to host the missile-defense-deployment sites, pro-western leaders in Poland and the Czech Republic put themselves on Russia’s enemies list — a dangerous place to be. These countries’ officials took this risk to cement a lasting defense relationship with the Arsenal of Democracy. Now the whole plan may be scrapped, and those pro-Western leaders may have put everything on the line for nothing. The word “betrayal” is being thrown around. Czech deputy prime minister Alexandr Vondra subtly jabbed at the shift in policy at the Munich conference, staying, “It’s too late to start building a shield when the missile is already in the air.” Obama has already demonstrated one improvement in America’s standing in the world — U.S. tourists will no longer confront bookshelves full of tomes denouncing their president in foreign bookstores. That may not be what Biden had in mind when he talked about America “asking more from its partners,” but it may be the most visible and tangible reciprocation that Europe offers. – Jim Geraghty writes the Campaign Spot for NRO.