From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone.

President Bush went on a grand tour of Europe this week, the first of his presidency,

and if you had read the advance word from the old

world, you would have guessed the streets would not be strewn with rose pedals. Here's a clip

from the president's stop in Sweden, reported by the BBC this week.

They call Gothenburg the friendly city. That's not how it looks just now. Early this afternoon, the

police clashed with around 200 protesters who'd thrown bottles and stones. The demonstrators

were forced to retreat to a nearby park. And this is why they're here, the man they called

the toxic Texan, who withdrew American participation in the Kyoto Accord on climate change.

Even the president's itinerary was fodder for critics.

He skipped the big players, notably Germany and France, for less influential nations like Spain and Slovenia.

He seemed to favor crowned heads over duly elected leaders, and he only managed to squeeze

in Russian President Alexander Putin for a couple of hours at the end of his trip.

Then there were the contentious issues of the Kyoto Accords the U.S. has failed to sign, the unpopular

missile defense system the president advocates, and the execution of Timothy McVeigh.

So all in all, the European news media was not favorably inclined toward George W. Bush when he

embarked upon his trip. Martin Walker is the chief international correspondent of UPI International.

We called him in Sweden and asked what the European press was expecting to see.

Well, they were expecting a slightly reformed alcoholic,

totally ignorant of affairs outside his native Texas,

...