Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Political Credibility

Warning! This one's political. But, it's also short.

I just heard, yet again, a news commentator repeat the charge that Bush has diminished American credibility in the world. I am completely bewildered by this charge. When did the U.S. have all this credibility in the world? And, why would finally doing what you say you're going to do diminish credibility rather than enhance it?

I am the son of an expatriate businessman. We lived in Guatemala, Panama, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Lebanon. I reluctantly came to the U.S. for college. To me the U.S. was a foreign country we visited only on occasion to see grandparents. I was always very anxious to go home after our brief stays here. I simply didn't like it.

Except for Latin America's brief fascination with JFK, I don't remember the US ever having any credibility. The anti-American feeling was very strong then -- enough so that I still remember having rocks thrown at me just because I was a gringo. Latin Americans ridiculed Americans for their uncouth, loud behavior, their extreme naivete and provincialism, their habit of saying one thing and doing another. And, I agreed. I was embarrassed by the U.S.

More recently, I worked as the Chief Information Officer of a German company, one of the DAX 30 along with other giants such as SAP and Siemens. The German attitude toward the U.S., even during the so-called world-wide empathy for America immediately after 9/11, was precisely the same as what I encountered growing up. I heard snide comments about the U.S. that could have been verbatim quotes of comments I heard in Germany in the '70s.

When was this so-called golden age of American credibility? What evidence is there that the U.S. has ever had any credibility to lose? Are we supposed to have had credibility under Clinton? There's no question he was likeable to Europeans, especially because of his sex scandals seemed so very European and impeaching him for it so very Puritanical. But are we now equating being liked with being credible?

And, how does UN-centered multilateralism convey credibility? Weren't 17 UN resolutions proved to be laughably empty?

I just don't get it!

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