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I need a president who won’t embarrass me in the foreign media |
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Listening to a thirty-minute summary of world news on BBC Hindi today, I had the unfortunate opportunity to hear President Bush as he often appears in the foreign news media–sounding like a cowboy in a speakeasy.
Referring to the lack of election results in Zimbabwe three weeks after elections were held, Bush was quoted in BBC’s Hindi-language media saying (in English):
“You can’r have an election unless you’re willing to put the results out. What kind of an election is it?…”
His sentiment may be accurate, but to a foreigner’s ear, these remarks are rude, abrasive, obnoxious. These are not the words of a prominent world leader, nor are they the words of an elected public official. These are the words of an armchair publican who thinks he knows what’s going on in the world but could hardly hold up his end of the conversation with a sixth grader.
After seven years of inarticulate public addresses and speeches that sound like the defiant slurings of the guy doing shots at the end of the bar, I need a president capable of expressing intelligent, diplomatic, well-informed sentiments as America’s Commander in Chief. I need a president who won’t embarass me when his/her words appear in the foreign media–in context, out of context, in print, on TV, or over the airwaves.
And given the number of gaffes McCain has made in the media over the past days (many of them resulting from the Bush administration’s uninformed foreign policy), I am now convinced, more than ever, that putting McCain in the White House will do nothing to improve America’s image overseas.
Unfortunately I think it isn’t just our admittedly less than articulate president who talks this way. It’s not just that world leaders can’t express themselves on questions of fraudulent or dirty elections - it’s that they really have nothing to say. I’m afraid even Ban Ki Moon doesn’t do much better…”Ah, this is deplorable” is basically as lucid as it gets. No real analysis, and certainly no suggestions of solutions.
Still, the point stands. Bush reinforces the cowboy image almost every time he speaks, and McCain won’t do much better. McCain I don’t even think would be able to maintain the facade of “strong leadership.” The weakness would shine through.
Very good point about McCain. Also, when Bush says “you can’t have an election unless you’re willing to put the results out,” he’s not just being simplistic and inarticulate. He’s being hypocritical. Let’s not forget the man is as comfortable with fraudulent elections and undemocratic secrecy as Mugabe — I’d say being embarrassed by him is the least of our problems.
Indeed. This example is just the tip of the iceberg. There are several arenas in which U.S. officials need to be more mindful of how they’re perceived overseas. Hypocrisy is just one of the many reasons the rest of the finds American leadership disdainful.