What Will the World Think of Us Now?

Hillary Rodham Clinton, the once presumptive Democratic nominee, said something very prescient in 2002 when she supported the President's call for the use of force against Iraq. Here's how she explained her vote:

My vote, is not, however, a vote for any new doctrine of preemption, or for unilateralism, or for the arrogance of American power or purpose--all of which carry grave dangers for our nation, for the rule of law and for the peace and security of the people throughout the world.

"If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us," President Bush said in his second debate with Al Gore in 2000. "If we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us." He was more right than ever. Can we imagine it now? America, the Gentle Giant. But instead we've seen foreign policy the last 8 years ala Frank Sinatra's "My Way" or the highway. The wonderful Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory one time referred to the United States of America as the "SUV of nations," hogging the road, guzzling our gas, and alienating our fellow road travelers in the process. When others so disdain us, it means that when we need to lead, we cannot. A leader who has lost the respect of his subordinates and his confidants is a leader no more.

Is it possible in the age of Obama for the United States to now rule without the arrogance of power? Two years ago I published a book, The Arrogance of American Power: What US Leaders Are Doing Wrong and Why It's Our Duty to Dissent, based in part on a class I taught at the University of Southern California called "Anti-Americanism: Hating America at Home and Abroad." At the time global public opinion against the United States was at its peak.

What a difference a few years can make.

The International Herald Tribune's John Freed reported on October 24, 2008 that Western European support for Obama had a lot to do with the 44th president's replacement of the 43rd.

While support for Barack Obama is broad and deep among Europeans, their reasons differ substantially from Americans who support him for president, according to a new survey. The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive for the IHT and the news channel France 24, reflects the overwhelming support in Western Europe for Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, over John McCain, the Republican. And the main reason on both sides of the Atlantic is the same: Obama's capacity for change from the policies of President George W. Bush.

Those who study communication know very well that the magic bullet theory of direct communication from source to target is a dusty textbook anachronism. If what we intended others to receive were actually received, then we wouldn't keep receiving such low marks in credibility.

Will Obama's victory signify a rise in international engagement with the world and a trust in government to competently handle foreign affairs? In February 2007, Gallup released its annual survey of how Americans view world affairs. Trust in the federal government to handle foreign affairs was at its lowest point in ten years. Just a little over a third (37%) were satisfied with the position of the United States in the world, the lowest reading that Gallup has polled on this measure since 1962. This compares to 71% who were satisfied in the months following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and 69% who were satisfied just after the Iraq War began in March 2003.

What a difference a few years can make.

From 2000-2004, Gallup found that a majority of Americans believed that other nations held us in favor. In the months after September 11th, 75% of Americans thought that foreign leaders respected President Bush. From 2004-2007, Americans believed the opposite. Only 21% of Americans believed that foreign leaders have respect for our 43rd president. I'd love to know the news consumption patterns of those twenty-one percent, wouldn't you?! This is not a statistic that gives me schadenfreude. I respect the office of the president, just not always the person inhabiting it.

In my 2006 critique of U.S. foreign policy, I built a case that we were becoming seen as a one-hit wonder in international affairs--searching for a kind word for others to say about us or some small token of support for which we will heap out praise. Our public diplomacy reflected this search to be the world's American Idol. In the history of nations, we are a great power, often doing our duty as the "leader of the free world," but doesn't power when made so paramount give us a dizzying feeling? I, an American citizen, see no value in the U.S. being viewed as the Number One country in the world. Number One brings on so many challenges. And frankly it just doesn't hold.

The 21st Century is too important to leave in the hands of one nation-state. Whether we wish to halt global diseases, counter terrorism, weapons proliferation, fundamentalist thinking, or promote equitable development, economic enterprise, or the environment, we need to cooperate, even if we can't work out all our differences. I'll settle for Top 5 or 10. You can still make a good career out of it.

LA-based Huffington Post readers may want to attend my talk on the same subject this Wednesday, November 19. Scripps College. Location: Claremont, California; Place: Garrison Theater; Time: 7:30 p.m.

Follow Nancy Snow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drpersuasion

Comments

[cjjoy]

We will have to wait a while to see if Obama improves our international reputation . For one thing they might be disappointed as to what he does in Iraq once he is briefed on the intel . He already told us not to focus on the deficit for at least two years . It makes one wonder what he has up his sleeve .

[peterg76]

The world has long since stopped trusting the US to live up to its own ideals, but now the US can't be trusted even to act in its own self-interest.

[K.J. Dwyer - Huffpost Blogger]

A major grievance against the U.S. is its use of torture.

Mark Benjamin www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/11/13/torture_commission/?source=newsletter quotes Kermit Roosevelt of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law who opines that perhaps, for the sake of "healing the country and moving forward," a blanket pardon of the Bush administration's use of torture "followed by something like a truth and reconciliation commission . . . might not be such a bad outcome."

Not content simply to continue the more than 100-year tradition of undermining democracies all over the world http://www.democracynow.org/2006/4/21/overthrow_americas_century_of_regime_change, the United States now seems to have set its sights on itself, subverting and auto-cannibalizing its own democratic principles to the point of burlesque.

The decision is this: To prosecute such heinous acts and uphold our democratic principles, or take the expedient route of treating the rule of law like an "etch-a-sketch;" turning it on its head and shaking it till there's nothing left but a blank slate.

Unless and until the United States takes judicial measures against such actions, the tactics employed by the Bush administration -- actions that literally subvert our own democracy and international law -- will continue to be viable options indefinitely. While that's the case, our standing in world opinion will continue to inexorably spiral down the drain of world opinion.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kj-dwyer/international-community-k_b_126701.html

[kjwhite]

Judging from the ecstatic reactions of people all over the world when Obama was announced the winner, I think the world actually WANTS to believe in America again..people were just waiting for a reason to do so. OK, this may sound corny, but I really believe that people WANT America, the country that stood for something great, the place that was a beacon of hope to so many, the "benevolent nation" that will take on bullies (instead of BEING the bully)....well, the world wants THAT America back again. I think president Obama will receive a surprising amount of support from around the world. Like that old saying, "sometimes you don't know what you have until it's gone"....well, 8 years of George Bush showed people what the world could be like if America started acting and behaving like everyone else. It STINKS.

I think our foreign neighbors want the old America back again, and will be a little more forgiving than we thought they ever could be. At least I hope so. Hopefully Obama will help people to understand that the cruel policies of George Bush did not reflect the hearts of the American people. Bush ran right over us along with everyone else.

[Seldon]

Which "Old America"? The McCarthy America? The Reagan America? The Isolationist America at the beginning of either World War?

Don't get me wrong, electing Obama is huge and it is fantastic that someone like Obama is able to become President. More than anything Americans after eight years yearn for a reason to feel good about themselves again.

However, don't expect the rest of the world to suddenly forget everything as easily as Americans seem to be able to. America has been a bully for a long time. Hopefully, it will be less of one now.

[peterg76]

Bear in mind that the US was viewed as a benevolent, idealistic nation compared to the old Soviet Union. The domestic propaganda doesn't fool the rest of the world.

[Franb]

There can be little doubt that the Obama presidency is seen outside of the US as a sea change in the way in which the US sees not only the rest of the world, but itself.

There is a widespread impression that the US is going to work collaboratively with others, including those with whom there are differences.

These things give the US an opening to reinvent itself as a country on the side of progress and reason rather than violent, ignorant, cynical, curmudgeonly parochialism and bullying.

It was this as much as anything that showed up in the high approval ratings for Obama offshore. That's what not being George Bush meant to many of us. That he presented as charming, approachable, intelligent and spoke to universal human values underlined this point. Right now, he has a status outside the US that compares with Mandela.

Come January 20, he will need to start doing things that accord with these expectations. I'm hopeful that he can.

[S1m0n]

The world was seriously shocked and dismayed not only at the Bush administration's actions, but also at the fact that the nation was incapable of using any of the apparatus it supposedly has to prevent exactly Bush's kind of abuses.

Yes, we're somewhat reassured that you managed to wake up, six years too late, but it'll be a long time before we trust.

[peterg76]

It's puzzling that a country that has been so obnoxious in lecturing the rest of the world on democracy has so much difficulty taking responsibility for electing Bush (sort of) and then enabling if not outright endorsing his crimes.

[charon]

Too little too late. Obama cannot undo the damage bushco has done to America and the world, and they will be very wary of us for a long time to come because of Georgie's blunderous reign of error and terror. Putting the bushco regime on trial for the crimes they have committed would help, but I don't expect to ever see them pay for their crimes; rather, it will be America and the world to bear that burden.