Opinion | Columnists
Matter of rebuilding US reputation
For the first time in years, the rest of the world seems broadly sympathetic to America, or willing to listen to what the new administration might have to say
- By Gordon Robison, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:25 December 2, 2008
- Image Credit: Illustration: Nino Jose Heredia/Gulf News
Over the last few years, it became something of a cliche to heave a sigh and remark that the next US president will need to devote a lot of time and effort to rebuilding America's image around the world. America, it was said, would need to re-learn the art of listening and become culturally sensitive. It would need to forget the Bush administration's Texas swagger and rediscover the internationalism of "insert the name of your favourite US president here".
In short, America would need to revitalise its infrastructure of public diplomacy, a catch-all term that encompasses everything from travelling art exhibitions and the Fulbright scholars programme to international broadcasting operations such as Radio Sawa and the Voice of America.
The outpouring of international goodwill that greeted last month's election of Barack Obama would seem to offer a good base on which to build. For the first time in years, much of the rest of the world seems broadly sympathetic to America, or at least willing to listen to what the new administration might have to say.
This moment must be seized. Whether, and how, the Obama administration chooses to do so will be an early, and critical, test of its diplomatic skill. Saying "we're not going to act like Bush" is much easier than deciding what one will actually do.
The need for one particular change is clear. The Bush administration never understood that public diplomacy and public relations are not the same thing. Of course selling foreign policy to the public - both at home and abroad - is a vital task for any government. But building support for, and an understanding of, American culture and values is not the same thing as building support for whoever happens to be the American president at any particular moment.
That said, simply going back to the way things used to be done is not going to work either. Much of what has traditionally been thought of as "public diplomacy" originated during the Cold War. Back then, cultural exchanges, like formal diplomatic notes, travelled mainly via official government-to-government channels. We are, however, long past the era when seeing a Hollywood movie in an Arab capital was likely to involve a trip to the American Cultural Centre.
Today, TV news never stops, financial markets are global and American tabloid princesses are as likely to be found in Dubai as they are in New York or London. The resulting challenge lies in embracing global culture rather than fighting (or merely being overwhelmed by) it.
The time when the US government's public diplomacy apparatus could control the message emanating from our shores is long past. What it can do is offer structure and context. Culturally speaking, Washington can't fight Hollywood when it comes to America's image overseas - but it can build on it.
None of this is going to happen, however, unless the Obama administration makes international outreach an early, and visible, priority. The brief tenure of Karen Hughes as head of the Bush administration's public diplomacy efforts yielded more than its share of cringe-inducing cultural misunderstandings. But the knowledge that Hughes was close to the president forced the State Department's bureaucracy to accord public diplomacy an urgency it lost when she returned to private life late last year.
Creating an opening
Obama's election has created an opening - a moment when the broader world is more willing to listen to America's message than it has been for a generation. Seizing that moment will require not only that the US moves quickly, but also that it begins the process by listening to the world's hopes, concerns and fears.
Dialogue needs to run in both directions. America needs to be a better listener, but it also needs someone to talk with beyond the usual foreign bureaucrats and diplomats. We have, on both sides, a window of opportunity. To let it slip away would be to squander the promise so many saw in last month's election.
Gordon Robison is a journalist and consultant based in Burlington, Vermont. He has lived in and reported on the Middle East for two decades, including assignments in Baghdad for both CNN and Fox News.
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