America’s interests overseas and its image abroad continue to suffer under a foreign policy that is both broken and confused.
In the meantime, the leader of our nation sits idly by, dismissing 61 percent of the citizens of this nation who have expressed feelings of disenchantment with the current administration. When the majority of a democratic nation does not support its leader or even express a vote of confidence, but instead outright disapproves of his performance, something is obviously terribly wrong.
But what’s worse is that President Bush is doing nothing to fix it.
Of course, approval ratings cannot necessarily run a nation. If rule was so easily swayed by popularity in the United States, we’d be under the helm of the other option 2004 offered-a president who pandered his thoughts, and likely his policy, to every wrinkled nose and each scowl on the face of the average citizen.
However, a president should, at bare minimum, manage to maintain a level of respect necessary to muster the support of the majority of the people whom he serves.
Instead of concerning himself with what the American people want, Bush seems to have photocopied an old speech he found from the 2003 State of the Union address, calling for America to strengthen its borders and fight abroad to prevent the enemy from coming home as they did on Sept. 11, 2001-a day that surely reshaped the very manner in which the United States functions on both a multilateral, and domestic level, but nonetheless a day that happened four-and-a-half years ago. Furthermore, he would expect to tighten control of the borders while avoiding appearing either isolationist or protectionist.
An unapologetic Bush once again stood before millions of Americans and touted the war on terror, equating Iraq and Saddam Hussein with al-Qaeda-a force inherently capable of threatening the survival of our very way of being-our most basic rights to freedom and survival.
All the while, Americans overseas-whether journalists, contractors or soldiers-continue to be rocked by roadside bombs, maliciously tortured by kidnappers, taken hostage and paraded on camera for the world to see.
At times like these, it falls upon the shoulders of our leadership to unite these 50 states, to encourage its people to stand up for the fight, to spread freedom and democracy, to reassess the situation under its current state with our current intelligence-but most of all to do all of this with words rather than rhetoric.
Instead, Bush simply pointed to problems he sees in the country-problems we need to solve-but he offered no concrete means by which we could accomplish his goals. It would be easier to respect the president, even if we disagreed with him, if he would say something substantial so we would know where he is coming from. Bush used empty, vague language and referred to America’s aspirations overseas as “freedom on the march.”
Bush should stand before Americans with a broken heart and contrite spirit and admit to what errors he and his administration may have made. The general moderate population of this nation understands we cannot immediately pull out of war-torn Iraq, but their support of the ongoing struggle would come easier were Bush to step down from his throne and level with them in a person-to-person manner.
He’s said it before in less public speeches. He’s apologized for faulty intelligence without losing political capital, and it’s time he does so while the nation watches.
The president is right about one thing. America needs to unite and break down partisan politics to accomplish the tasks at hand both domestically and internationally.
But he needs to recognize what it will take to establish a followership in the United States-strong, honest leadership led by a powerful but apologetic president.