How the world sees Bush I

　　The legacy of Bush Senior gives foreign leaders an idea of what to expect. TIME. com's Tony Karon offers a thumbnail sketch of hopes and fears.

　　Whether they like him or not, at least the rest of the world believes they already know President-elect Ge orge W. Bush. The reason is obvious: He's relying mostl y on the heavy hitters of his father's administration t o manage his foreign powers has been the certainty of c ontinuity—either with the Clinton administration or wit h the Bush administration that preceded it. Moscow, Bei jing, Tokyo, Paris, London, the Middle Eastern power pl ayers and all the others believe they know what to expe ct of the new administration, and that removes the disc omforts of uncertainty. They all filed the diplomatical ly de rigueur congratulations overnight, and their expr essions of confidence in the new Bush administration we re likely heartfelt—officials around the world reminisc ed enthusiastically about the scion of a president best remembered as a sober and steady hand on the tiller of foreign policy.

　　Reasons to fear, reasons to cheer

　　But whether they have good reason to be cheerful ab out Bush's victory differs from region to region. After all, the President-elect and his advisers made clear th roughout the campaign that they will manage foreign pol icy on the basis of national interest, rather than the fuzzier humanitarian concepts erratically invoked by a Clinton administration that failed to establish a cohes ive foreign policy vision.