FAYETTEVILLE — President George W. Bush undoubtedly did quite a bit of damage to the United States' internationalrelations with his defiantly unilateral approach to foreign policy. I suspect there are few of us, if we were president, who would have been able to resist ahardening of a cooperative spirit after terrorists, aided directly and indirectly by some nations, committed such a dastardly act as the Sept. 11, 2001, murders in New York and Washington, D.C.
Attacked in such a way, the United States cannot accept a position within the international community by which it must ask permission to respond. I've got no problem with the concept that the United States will respond in any way it sees fit to protect itself and its citizens from harm.
But the reaction of the world to those awful attacks also presented opportunities for cooperation and better relations through the common interest of fighting terrorism around the globe, and our nation during the Bush years didn't seem to have any capacity to invest in those opportunities.
In last week's address to the United Nations General Assembly, President Barack Obama went to great strides to restore a multilateral spirit embodied by the United Nations. It was a well-balanced speech that nonetheless put the United States in a precarious position of being perceived as soft in a hard, hard world.
It's unsettling to hear a U.S. president, in a chamber peppered with representatives who would just as soon rid the globe of this powerful democracy, speak in ways that sound like he's apologizing for the past acts of our nation. At times during Obama's speech, I felt like he was saying the United States had been a bad player on the international scene and only since he took office in January has the nation come to a more suitable approach to international relations.
And for Obama, it's a bit dangerous for him to sound like he's more interested in being loved internationally than in defending the interests of his nation. I think he knew this, telling the U.N. delegates that his responsibility is to "act in the interest of my nation and my people, and I will never apologize for defending those interests."
Still, some will view his speech to the United Nations as weakness. They will point to the fact that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi said later the same day that he would be "content and happy if Obama can stay forever as the president of the United States."
I doubt that quote will show up on Obama 2012campaign material. It will probably be revived in opposition commercials.
Is it weakness? One cannot determine that based on a singe speech. Indeed, Obama's speech said a lot of things that needed to be said: that conflicts of the past do not have to definehow we respond to the future; that one nation cannot wield all of the power in the world; that the only way to advance the cause of mankind is for all nations to deal respectfully with each other in shared pursuit of peace and justice.
One of the most meaningful statements Obama made was his reminder that real people are affected by the political failures of nations, perhaps shown most dramatically in the Middle East.
"We must remember that the greatest price of this conflict is not paid by us. It's not paid by politicians," the president said. "It's paid by the Israeli girl in Sderot who closes her eyes in fear that a rocket will take her life in the middle of the night. It's paid for by the Palestinian boy in Gaza who has no clean water and no country to call his own. These are all God's children. And after all the politics and all the posturing, this is about the right of every human being to live with dignity and security. That is a lesson embedded in the three great faiths that call one small slice of Earth the Holy Land. And that is why, even though there will be setbacks and false starts and tough days, I will not waver in my pursuit of peace."
Obama's good intentions are very important to creating the possibility of better international relations, but he's going to have to do what every president before him has done: balance the desire to be a good, cooperative neighbor against the United States' need to operate from a position of strength.
The fact of the matter is the world, like our own community here in Fayetteville, has a mix of wellintentioned people sincere about treating all with justice and dignity along with others whose greed and self-centeredness will motivate them to act with either indifference or actual malice toward others.
Real progress will likely occur in the realm of cooperation and the discovery of common ground for the advancement of peace. Obama's success, however, will also rely on his ability to promote those ideals while being ready to respond to those who would seek to destroy rather than build up.
Greg Harton is editor of the Northwest Arkansas Times. His column on Sundays.
Opinion, Pages 4 on 09/27/2009