The World Wants America Back

[babylonsister]

A Hunger For America

By Moisés Naím
Wednesday, January 2, 2008; Page A13


The world wants America back.

For the next several years, world politics will be reshaped by a strong yearning for American leadership. This trend will be as unexpected as it is inevitable: unexpected given the powerful anti-American sentiments around the globe, and inevitable given the vacuums that only the United States can fill.

This renewed international appetite for U.S. leadership will not merely result from the election of a new president, though having a new occupant in the White House will certainly help. Almost a decade of U.S. disengagement and distraction have allowed international and regional problems to swell. Often, the only nation that has the will and means to act effectively is the United States.

To be sure, anti-Americanism will never disappear. Nor will America's enemies go away. But strong anti-American currents will increasingly coexist with equally strong international demands for the United States to play a larger role in world affairs.

Of course, the America that the world wants back is not the one that preemptively invades potential enemies, bullies allies or disdains international law. The demand is for an America that rallies other nations prone to sitting on the fence while international crises are boiling out of control; for a superpower that comes up with innovative initiatives to tackle the great challenges of the day, such as climate change, nuclear proliferation and violent Islamist fundamentalism. The demand is for an America that enforces the rules that facilitate international commerce and works effectively to stabilize an accident-prone global economy. Naturally, the world also wants a superpower willing to foot the bill with a largess that no other nation can match.

These are not just naive expectations. Foreign leaders know that, even in the best circumstances, the next U.S. president will not be able to deliver on all these things. They also understand that American leadership always comes at a price. Appearing too closely allied with the United States is a risky political position for elected politicians everywhere. Still, some have shown a surprising readiness to stand with America.

Consider what happened last March, when President Bush traveled to Latin America, a region he has largely ignored. To many, it seemed that the trip was bound to be inconsequential, as Bush had nothing concrete to offer. Yet all the Latin American presidents who were asked to host this lame-duck, empty-handed and politically radioactive guest agreed to do so; some even lobbied not to be left off his itinerary. What was in it for them? The hope of getting the superpower to do something for them. Leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for example, a personal friend and staunch supporter of Bush's nemesis Hugo Chávez, wanted help with his country's ethanol industry.

In Turkey, much like in Brazil, the population is deeply critical of the United States. Yet, much like his Brazilian counterpart, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has openly courted the Bush administration. The Turkish prime minister knows that the United States is his country's best ally in the effort to get Turkey into the European Union.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/01/AR2008010101298.html

[ConcernedCanuk]

1. "The World Wants America Back" - I don't think so

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.
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I think the "world" wants "America" (the USA) to continue it's decline and leave the rest of the world alone

The USA has it's greedy paws in too many countries IMO

[rAVES]

2. I think the world just wants America to STFU at this stage.

Simply not looked up to as a beacon of hope and freedom, probably never will be again.. just that big army country that bully's the third world into submission and tells everyone its the greatest place on earth.

[ixion]

3. I for one, want my democratic republic -- my FREEDOM -- back

That means ending the so-called 'war on drugs' and it's ugly younger brother, the so-called 'war on terror'. I want the unPATRIOTic Act and the MCA tossed repealed entirely, and the DHS and TSA and the NAO scrubbed completely. I want Habeus Corpus and Posse Comitatus restored.

That would be a good start.

[RethugAssKicker]

4. American Exceptionalism !!..... BS

The world doesn't want America to be the BIG GREAT LEADER... It just wants us to join the world as a partner... NOT AS A BULLY or as its GREAT BENEFACTOR !

[tom_paine]

5. They might want it back, but I think we have passed the tipping point of the embrace of evil

and the psychological reprogramming of our people to be handmaidens of tyrants, the 1930s Germans reborn.

5% chance left to restore the Old American Republic, and that may be overly optimistic.

This does not mean giving up, however. NEVER give up.

[90-percent]

6. Dude...

Dude,.........WHERE'S MY CONSTITUTION????

-90%

[Demeter]

7. Then They'd Better Crank Up The Hague and the ICC

because we can't take down Pure Evil by ourselves, not when half the nation is enthralled by it.

Especially when that half has the money and the power and the political office.

[Doctor_J]

8. Since no less of a GOP mouthpiece than USA Today admits the fix is in for 2008,

they're going to have to wait a little longer, it seems. The headline in today's McPaper says that it's likely that thousands of legal, eligible voters will be refused their right to vote in November. Would you like to predict what % of these people will be in Dem precincts?

[katty]

9. World to America: geezus, give us all a BREAK!! get some

therapy, we're begging you!