Americans are not embarrassing themselves in one set of the world's eyes. Willem Post, a political scientist in The Netherlands, is in New Hampshire, his fourth time actually, and is enchanted, describes it as "magical," a "fairy tale." The retail nature of the primaries "impressed" Mr. Post especially. He recounted a story from the 2004 primary, he saw a woman holding a sign "I want to marry John Kerry." "You must really like him," Mr. Post approached and asked her. "You want to meet him?," the woman replied. "He's right in the coffee shop." Mr. Post was amazed, said he thought to himself, "No, this can't be true. I can't just walk into a coffee shop and talk to Senator Kerry." But damn if he didn't. Interviewed Kerry for 5-10 minutes he said. The PRI host asked, "Politicians don't go door-to-door in The Netherlands? "No.," was the immediate, abrupt, one-word answer.

Willem Post was also "impressed" by how seriously New Hampshire citizens take their responsibility. "They are, in a sense, doing it for the world," he said. All of which gave me a warm feeling. It was really, really nice to hear.