In Friday’s debate, Barack Obama made a big deal about his ability to restore America’s world image. Why should that be a big deal? Is it? Business Week debates whether when you get right down to it, the world might be initially pleased with a president so far from Bush on so many levels, (though really, the main difference is probably physical, imho) ultimately, will they be disappointed? And, more importantly, exactly how is he going to accomplish such a thing?
CNN reports that Obama somehow relates world image to national security. On the question of the potential of another 9/11:
McCain that another attack on the scale of the September 11 hijackings is “much less likely” now than it was the day after the terrorist attacks.
“America is safer now than it was on 9/11,” he said, “But we have a long way to go before we can declare America safe.”
Obama agreed that the United States is “safer in some ways” but said the country needed to focus more on issues such as nuclear non-proliferation and restoring America’s image in the world.
This is a song Camp O has been singing for months now, and it makes no more difference (or sense) to me now than it did when I first heard it. Are we supposed to give up nukes so people will come play with us? Why are so many people so concerned with who we elect as president, anyway? Are they really, or is this just more Axelrod astroturfing? There’s a World Wants Obama Coalition on the net, MoveOn.org has a page, “Obama in 30 Seconds,” with a diplomacy section dedicated to quick validation of the idea; who can forget his World Tour Like A Rock Star and the now famous, World Wants Obama poll? Maybe Axelrod read Dennis Ross’ book, “Statecraft: And How To Restore America’s Standing In The World,” and took it to heart, though I’m not sure either one of us buys the whole “chicken-and-egg” premise that if people like what they think about you, the threat of danger is automatically sufficiently minimized. Unless he’s making the case that for terrorists, to know us is to love us, what is the point of giving a good hot damn what the rest of the world thinks? And, who would say that with a straight face? That’s kind of a “blame the victim in advance” sucker bait attitude, in my opinion. When you sit down to talk to foreign leaders, with or without pre-conditions, how effective can you be if you’re preoccupied with getting them to like you? If the country is being governed properly, world respect will come. If all it takes is having a guy with the “right look” to get the globe on board, maybe their opinion isn’t really worth cultivating. At least, that’s what my mama taught me.
And, I’m sure Axelbama knows it, too.
PUMA
Just Say No Deal
I do not suggest that the rest of the world vote for U. S. president. My point is that how the U. S. A. conducts itself, as a nation-state, affects other countries’ perceptions and actions toward the U. S. A. The comment was prompted by …
I do not think we are disagreeing on the point, but maybe how important it is.
Unless you’re saying the rest of the world should get a vote on who we pick to run our country, I don’t get your point, ea. I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.
Both.
ea, America’s improved status in the world is a by-product of it’s foreign policy, not the policy itself.
Though a lot of people in the country don’t want to believe it, it DOES MATTER what the rest of the world thinks about the U. S. government. The U. S. government often behaves in a way that indicates it will do any darn thing it wants, and screw everyone else. Unfortunately, many citizens tend to adopt that attitude and live in blissful ignorance. Suddenly, it is , “Why do they hate us? Boo hoo hoo.” If the United States of America wants to play US-against-the-world, it will lose.
It is also incorrect to think that all other governments will have the same opinion. Some will enter into trade agreements, others won’t. Some will agree to multi-lateral military missions, others won’t. The less value the dollar has, the less influence the U. S. A. has, regardless of how many bombs it has. Restoring one’s standing basically comes down to stop being a jacka$$.
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