The Cure for American Arrogance
During his much heralded trip to Europe, our “rock star” president said that America had been “arrogant” in the past but that we were changing. There is no question that we are changing, we are becoming more like European socialists all the time. But it was President Obama’s intent to mean that we were becoming more humble as a nation, another attack on American exceptionalism. During the campaign, candidate Obama said that we must repair our tarnished image in the world, that we must make people like us again. President Obama and the state department led by “the smartest woman in the world” Hillary Clinton, seem to have made it their mission to change our image in the world as rapidly as possible.
Unfortunately, instead of changing our image from “arrogant cowboy” to “gentle giant”, they have changed our image from “tough customer” to “class clown”. It would appear that the Obama/Clinton strategy for making people think we are less arrogant it to make us look foolish. Not foolish in the self-depreciating way that some may find endearing, but foolish in the way of an ignorant country bumpkin in the big city. Every time there is a foray into the foreign arena by this administration, it is a disaster. Hillary Clinton telling North Korea to call her on a late night talk show or giving the Russian President a button with the wrong word on it. President Obama himself insulting our staunch allies the British with lame gifts and returning a gift of theirs. He doesn’t kiss the French First lady but gives a deep bow to the Saudis. He gives the Queen an I-Pod and the first lady touches her. In eight years of President Bush, except for a little dancing, I don’t remember any of these kinds of blunders. Now, it is one after the other.
Now I know there are people in the state department whose sole job it is to make sure the president and his diplomats operate with the greatest cultural discretion. Either those people have all been fired and replaced by people who don’t know what they are doing or President Obama and Secretary Clinton are ignoring their advice. Perhaps it is some of both. The point is that the result of all these blunders in etiquette either make us look amateurish in the world, or supremely arrogant. Why arrogant? Because if we are not ignorant of the customs, and I find it difficult to believe we are, that means we are purposely ignoring the cultures and customs of those we interact with, putting little or no thought into the gifts we give and the words we say. President Obama’s cure for American arrogance just makes us look worse. The real cure for it is to act in the world according to principle and not in ways that are designed just to get the approval of people who are lukewarm to us, or who are our enemies. We may not be adored but we will be respected again. Sometimes that is the best one can hope for and is should be enough.
Unfortunately, instead of changing our image from “arrogant cowboy” to “gentle giant”, they have changed our image from “tough customer” to “class clown”. It would appear that the Obama/Clinton strategy for making people think we are less arrogant it to make us look foolish. Not foolish in the self-depreciating way that some may find endearing, but foolish in the way of an ignorant country bumpkin in the big city. Every time there is a foray into the foreign arena by this administration, it is a disaster. Hillary Clinton telling North Korea to call her on a late night talk show or giving the Russian President a button with the wrong word on it. President Obama himself insulting our staunch allies the British with lame gifts and returning a gift of theirs. He doesn’t kiss the French First lady but gives a deep bow to the Saudis. He gives the Queen an I-Pod and the first lady touches her. In eight years of President Bush, except for a little dancing, I don’t remember any of these kinds of blunders. Now, it is one after the other.
Now I know there are people in the state department whose sole job it is to make sure the president and his diplomats operate with the greatest cultural discretion. Either those people have all been fired and replaced by people who don’t know what they are doing or President Obama and Secretary Clinton are ignoring their advice. Perhaps it is some of both. The point is that the result of all these blunders in etiquette either make us look amateurish in the world, or supremely arrogant. Why arrogant? Because if we are not ignorant of the customs, and I find it difficult to believe we are, that means we are purposely ignoring the cultures and customs of those we interact with, putting little or no thought into the gifts we give and the words we say. President Obama’s cure for American arrogance just makes us look worse. The real cure for it is to act in the world according to principle and not in ways that are designed just to get the approval of people who are lukewarm to us, or who are our enemies. We may not be adored but we will be respected again. Sometimes that is the best one can hope for and is should be enough.
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