An Obama-Clinton ticket has numerous pitfalls. On the plus side, it would be a like a surgical incision that in a single stroke removes the early-stage cancer caused to America’s high standing in the world by the Bush regime’s short-sighted hubris. This piece looks at the plus. Subsequent contributions will attempt to describe pitfalls.
The damage done to America’s place in the world is like a cancer that spreads to unexpected locations unless it is caught early and excised. This remark is not made as a condemnation of Bush’s policies. It is a non-partisan statement of how the American government (not the people) is seen by much of the world, apart from a few among America’s closest military allies.
Angry anti-Americanism roams the world like cancerous cells travel in the blood waiting for an opportunity to capture other areas distant from their starting point. Where the hostile cells settle and start new debilitating dominions is unpredictable and uncontrollable. This is how anti-Americanism, including terrorism, is capturing supporters in diverse locations, including Europe.
An Obama-Clinton ticket will offer a dream with hope to hundreds of millions of people, especially in non-democratic countries. It will suddenly excise the fear and revulsion of America grown around the world during the past 5 years.
But the honeymoon will be short-lived if President Obama’s policies change little from Bush’s imperial and blinkered behavior. That could happen if reasons of State put Obama in a cage after he enters the Oval office and discovers the complexities, subterfuge and contradictions of day-to-day governance.
However, one gain will persist. If a black man of mixed blood and a white woman are elected to rule in Washington, nobody will be able to argue that Americans have abandoned or are slipping away from the finer ideals of the Founding Fathers. Even if the ticket loses to John McCain, their merely having stood up will have a positive impact around the world
Whether or not US policies change, the post-racial and almost post-gender inclinations of ordinary American voters will be clear for all to see. That will bring relief to many and hope to others suffering from those oppressions in their own countries. As with numerous other trends, changes happening in America usually spread to the world within a decade.
The challenge is worthwhile. The world still consists of nation states and most nations are defined by ethnicity. Most cultures put great value on ethnic purity and avoid sexual intercourse between different races. The homogeneity of people in Japan, Korea, China, India, most African countries and much of Europe are evidence of this preference for ethnic clarity.
America is the world’s only country with very substantial ethnic diversity although by some accounts it still does not have much intermixture of the races. Obama’s mix of black and white breaks a major unspoken global taboo. Clinton’s rise to Vice President would pierce an important glass ceiling for women in America, even though there remains one more ceiling above.
The spectacle of this rare combination can be a grand coup in foreign eyes since it emerges from a transparent electoral process in which the entire world is participating as watchers with loud opinions. This time the race is a drama that has gripped everyone’s imagination because the chief actors seemed so improbable just a few months ago. They also make others wish they could be as open-minded, frank and forward-looking.
The world will have to admit that the negative aspects of the Bush years were an aberration. They are not the heart and soul of the American people. They were an anomaly of the 9/11 trauma.
This realization will help to speed up rebuilding of the most precious strength that the US lost in recent years. That was the strength of trust. Until Colin Powell’s inaccurate speech to the United Nations Security Council, most leaders of world democracies trusted America’s word. Since that time, most foreign governments take whatever the White House says with a large pinch of salt.
A change as radical as the Obama-Clinton ticket, especially their ultimate victory, will restore trust in the American people’s determination to return decency to their government. It will set an example for countries struggling to establish honest and decent democracies. This transparency, not weapons or wealth, is America’s great but undervalued strength to win friends around the globe.
Consolidating this gain will depend on how Obama and Clinton interpret the national interest and security in actual practice. If their foreign policies walk along Bush’s tracks, the trust may be lost for a long time not only among long-time doubters but also in Europe.