As the end of the Bush presidency is nearly in sight, I decided to look back on the past eight years and write about the worst mistakes of the current administration. Rather unsurprisingly, I’ve discovered that picking one superlative error on the part of my favorite Texan is a task nigh impossible. Not being one to shirk a challenge, I’ve tried to be as objective as possible (if, in the realm of political opinion, one can even use that word with a straight face) in taking in the scope of recent administrative failures.
As much as one wants to settle on Iraq – and let’s be clear, invading Iraq was a serious mistake – that’s too easy of an answer. Egregious as that error was, it does not compare to the long-term damage done to the United States’ image abroad, an image critical to the future success of our economic and diplomatic interests. As much as certain politicians huff and puff about not caring what those dirty French think, any casual observer of foreign sentiments is well aware that the American reputation is on a steep decline.
Playing political with U.S. foreign policy is a dangerous game. Somewhere along the way, unilateralism has become synonymous with toughness, and winning those machismo points has become more important than our foreign policy interests. Remember, diplomatic approaches to problems are something only weak countries engage in. Whenever some unwitting fool suggests a more multilateral methodology, Republicans have accused them of placing American interests in the hands of foreign countries. At that point, I keep expecting someone to pull a drunken McCarthy impersonator out of a closet to complete the gag.
Although I really wish it were an elaborate joke, the ramifications of the course Bush and Co. have charted have only begun to show. Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor to Jimmy Carter, noted the complete squandering of American power in his latest book on the last three presidents. He gave Bush an F. One wonders why Bush didn’t study the work of his father, who, lest we forget, was a far more moderate and successful president than his son. He successfully managed a multilateral war against Iraq, a war that didn’t irrevocably damage American reputation abroad.
A telling watermark for Bush Jr. was the retirement of Colin Powell, who left the administration at the end of Bush’s first term. He was perhaps the only moderate foreign policy voice in the Bush cabinet, and his leaving signaled an ever more unilateral approach. Critics often point to the infamous intelligence gaffe that Powell was at the center of. I can still vividly remember an on-his-game Powell delivering a believable (and I think sincere) speech about the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Despite that mistake, the former Secretary of State at least made an honest effort to participate in the international diplomatic system, a system which the United States happened to create.
If Powell had stayed on, maybe Brzezinski would had awarded Bush a D for effort. Instead, I’m filled with visions of erstwhile United Nations’ ambassador John Bolton, whose contempt for the U.N. is Washington’s worst-kept secret. Every time I see him doing a post-diplomacy interview, I can’t stop laughing. His face all but screams, “Screw these guys, I’m going home, and I’m taking my ball with me.” Bolton and his crew are all incredibly shortsighted. The United States will face an increasing array of problems abroad, problems that will require international assistance to be overcome. Unfortunately, our list of friends is getting shorter and shorter.
In a recent article in the The New York Times, Parag Khanna describes a critical contest between three future powers – China, the United States and the European Union – in securing resources and influence in second and third world countries. If such a scenario emerges (and it seems more and more likely that it will), then the current foreign policy stratagem employed by the Bush administration has already hindered us before the race has even begun. Is it any wonder that our influence is waning in the international arena, when we’ve been so strident in our criticism of international institutions like the U.N.? The long-term damage from Bush’s singular approach to foreign affairs may or may not be permanent, but its legacy will outlast the other mistakes of this administration – numerous though they may be. Here’s hoping the next guy doesn’t eat freedom fries.
Hunter Pavela is a senior Chinese and philosophy major currently studying abroad in Beijing. He can be reached at hpavela@umd.edu.
