The presumptive Republican Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, has started telling Europeans that his White House will want effective teamwork with its European allies - a marked change from the way in which the Bush administration often seems to brush them off.

In his concept, the key word of a stronger transatlantic partnership is “together” - with a new emphasis on U.S. readiness to be “willing to be persuaded by” European allies in order to get united action by democracies in Europe and the rest of the world.

A key U.S.-European cleavage - over Iraq - is unlikely to be healed by a McCain presidency. He has consistently supported the war in Iraq and argued for deeper, longer American involvement, not less. Even now in calling for more powerful U.S.-EU cooperation, McCain may dismay some Europeans with his emphasis on hard military power over the soft power options that many allies feel were scandalously neglected by the current Republican incumbent in the White House. (more…)