Commentary: The United States twenty years of global leadership deficit
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| Published on Saturday, March 22, 2008 |
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By Jean H Charles
The United States since the end of the governance of Ronald Reagan has endured a long hiatus of 20 years of global leadership positioning. In fact the great American presidents of the past that have propelled the United States into global standing can be counted with almost two hands. They are:
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| Jean H Charles MSW, JD is Executive Director of AINDOH Inc a non profit organization dedicated to build a kinder and gentle Caribbean zone for all. He can be reached at: jeanhcharles@aol.com |
- George Washington for ushering the United States into a free democratic Republic from the yoke of Great Britain
- Abraham Lincoln for leading the country into the Black emancipation freeing Black Americans from the world order of slavery.
- Woodrow Wilson for making the world safe for democracy by entering in the World War I
- Franklin Roosevelt for helping the United States at home to withstand the Great Depression with the New Deal and abroad by entering into the Second World War, stopping the gangrene of Nazism throughout Europe.
- John F Kennedy for making the United States looks hip and cool for the rest of the globe.
- Lyndon Johnson for espousing the ideals of Martin Luther King in implementing the Civil Rights laws extending the concept of hospitality to all including blacks and minorities.
- Ronald Reagan for helping to dismantle the Soviet Empire and giving to America the sense of manifest destiny towards optimism, growth and progress.
One could add John Adams to that list, except he did not have the opportunity to enjoy a second mandate. I suspect he was on his way of presiding over the liberation of black people in America, helping to bypass the Civil War and the ensuing Jim Crow laws. His mandate was cut short with the election of Thomas Jefferson as the third president of the United States.
Coming back to Ronald Reagan, he was able to rally the troops at home to pass and signed a swiping Immigration Amnesty Law bringing into the concept of hospitality millions of immigrants who have benefited the continuing making of America during the last twenty years. Abroad, without brandishing a cannon he has helped to dismantle the Soviet Empire with the call: “Mr Gorbachev tear down these walls!” He pierced the myth of the strength of the communism doctrine to call the bluff and facilitated its demise.
Time has not been the same since. George H W. Bush, the 41st President led us in the first war with Iraq as it invaded Kuwait. I remember that August day of 1990 when travel was cheap and easy, gasoline was not expensive. It was almost an era of golden bliss throughout the world. The coalition of the willing stopped short this era. An American president clothed with the mantle of Ronald Reagan would have sought the Achilles heel of Saddam Hussein and stayed the course until he turned back his troop and left Kuwait without the sound of a cannon; saving the world million of dollars and some good night sleep at night. Despots are usually cowardly individuals, global leaders must find the heel of those tyrants and pinch it until it hurts.
The Bill Clinton administration benefited from the dismantlement of the Soviet empire, initiated by Ronald Reagan. I was expecting a coalition of the willing engaging the old Soviet dominion into a Marshall Plan that would have brought western style democracy, development and industrialization from Italy to Siberia. The distracting issues of Monica Lewinsky filled the time that should have been used for substantive matters such as resolving the future of Social Security with Congress and forging an alliance with Europe to help the new Soviet republics.
The George W Bush adminitration had the allure of a Ronald Reagan. It tried and succeeded in dethroning Saddam Hussein against the volition of people at home and abroad. The war that succeeded in less than a month has been marred by poor handling of the victory. Iraq represents a broken jar that the United States is trying to put back together with great cost and great suffering by both parties. On the plus side, the George W Bush adminitration can be considered the first African/ American president, compared to Bill Clinton the first black president for some. The purse of 30 billion to fight AIDS and bring about good governance in Africa has already brought some results in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia. At home the president has not been able to rally the troops to pass or even talk about a real amnesty program.
Faced with that vacuum of leadership, the European Union, China and Russia are pretending to fill the hole. The European Union is doing an excellent job in urging the emerging democracies to rise up to the level of acceptance within the Union. It has helped some 27 countries throughout Europe, covering some 500 million people, to aspire to the pursuit of happiness. It is even extending itself to Africa and to the Caribbean with the same purpose. Yet the European Union does not have the vertical head that facilitates the United States to engage in separate parts of the world at the same time.
China, with its billion population size, its discipline, and its large foreign currency reserve, is destined to have a great influence on world politics. Yet China is still an underdeveloped country that refuses to apply the elementary principles of Federalism 101 to deal with Tibet, and Taiwan. As China is preparing to celebrate its coming out with the hosting of the Olympics, it is embarrassing itself with its strong hand in dealing with the demonstrators in Tibet. The Dalai Lama is willing to be a good overseer to the destiny of Tibet under China rule, yet China is playing the game of Napoleon going forward to destroy Toussaint Louverture who was willing to govern Haiti under some type of French tutelage. Further, China in its search for raw materials throughout the world is willing to close its eyes on any and all human rights violations by the engaging party. The world leadership cannot go backwards.
In Russia, Putin is presiding upon his own brand of democracy that entails putting the old guard into the new structure so “ plus cela change plus c’est la meme chose”, the more things change more they remain the same. Putin must be credited though with the handling of the Chechnya situation. He has used an iron hand with the terrorists and a gentle hand with the population. Chechnya is enjoying today what Tibet could have been enjoying under China rule.
To conclude, the world global leadership is the province of the United States; as America goes as goes the rest of the world. The United States can be compared to the main engine of the locomotive that propels this globe. If it stalls the rest of the world stalls also. Maybe that is the reason why the greenback is losing its global appeal for something more shiny, not necessary solid as gold? The men and women of America have a unique opportunity this year to vote for and elect one of the three senators (a black man, a woman and a white male) to the presidency of the United States.
To quote James Madison, ”The happy Union of the States is a wonder, their constitution a miracle, their example, the hope of liberty throughout the world.”
They should choose with care the one person who is the best cloning of Ronald Reagan. We would be closer to the task of stopping the gap of twenty years of global leadership. It will be good for the United States; indeed it will be good for the rest of the world. A booming economy, the prospect of social integration, the bliss of a world at peace are the by-products of a strong American presidency. | | | | Reads : 123 | | | |
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