A superb opinion piece in last Sunday’s (June 15) LA Times belatedly caught my attention (I have been on travel, and my computer crashed). It is by Ted Widmer, a former speechwriter for President Clinton, and Director of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. Although my comments are almost a week late, Widmer’s words could not be more current, or relevant.
In his piece, “America isn’t over,” Widmer laments the tragic state of affairs of our foreign policy and the setbacks that democracies around the world have suffered as a result:
There is no question that U.S. foreign policy suffered a monster setback over the last eight years, and it does not take a genius to realize that the next president will have to speak differently to a world that has grown cynical about American promises. After years of the most simple-minded platitudes about liberty, it will be a pleasure to declare ourselves free from President Bush’s “freedom agenda,” which was never well-defined or successful, even by its own yardsticks.
And,
In fact, during the last two years of Bush’s tenure, the number of democracies has been declining around the world, according to the human rights monitoring group Freedom House — the first two-year decline in 15 years. Notorious crooks, such as Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, have stayed in power throughout the Bush years; other nations, such as Cameroon, have gotten worse, and we all saw what a nightmare Myanmar is when the cyclone blew the lid off its usual secrecy.
Widmer is concerned that, as a result of such foreign policy disasters and setbacks to freedom and democracy around the world, Americans will “throw in the towel,“ “disengage from the world,” and he goes on to provide an eloquent–and historical–argument for why America must once again effectively champion genuine freedom and democracy around the world:
Who among the new powers will take up the standard of democracy around the world if not the U.S.? Europe might, if it wielded sufficient military force, but that is an expensive investment that Europeans seem unlikely to make. The rise of China will do nothing to reverse democracy’s downward slide, and all summer it will be entertaining to witness the real gymnastics of the Olympics — the efforts of Chinese leaders to suppress dissent and appear welcoming at the same time.
And,
No one wants more cowboy diplomacy, but a forceful statement of American ideals at the beginning of the next presidency would go far to remind the world why the United States became a superpower in the first place. A clear vision of the world we want — and if necessary, are willing to fight for — would frighten despots, encourage young democracies and improve the odds for the large number of nations that might go in either direction.
A new and better freedom agenda, grounded in realistic promises of economic betterment as well as a core commitment to FDR’s Four Freedoms — freedom of speech and religion; freedom from want and fear — would do far more than parrot the pronouncements of the current administration. It would bring hope to hundreds of millions of people who still live in societies in which disease, illiteracy and the lack of opportunity make promises of freedom something of a distraction.
Widmer concludes his superb commentary as follows:
American promises of liberty can grate on the ears of listeners in other countries — near the beginning of the Iraq war, a German newspaper ran the headline, “Bush threatens more freedom.” But these promissory notes spring from a rich patrimony that has wrought a great deal of good in the world and that is at least as liberal as it is conservative. All presidents want to talk about the future, but we should not forget how much inspiration can be found simply by consulting the better angels of our past.
As a hobby I translate European (Dutch and Spanish) press articles into English for Watching America, and I have many foreign relatives and friends. I have thus, I believe, first-hand knowledge of the terrible skepticism, distrust and deep disappointment that Europeans have in and for the Bush administration. But, I can also sense the great hope and high expectations they are now beginning to have for the next president of the United States.
Thus, I believe that I can sincerely footnote Widmer’s essay by saying that perhaps we need not worry. Regardless of who our next president is, the world will clamor for a renewed, refreshed and realistic American involvement and global leadership–not cajoling, bribing or strong-arming– in once again working for genuine freedom and democracy around the world. Hopefully it will be a call that our new president and the American people can not and will not ignore. A call for a renewed, re-energized, and–above all–“re-moralized” American world leadership.
Ted Widmer’s next book is “Ark of the Liberties: America and the World.” It will be published in July. Can’t wait
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.