Expecting better

Thomas P. Barnett has the strongest reflections on the WikiLeaks mess and the lessons it offers for American foreign policy that I've seen.

Wikileaks and Obama's False Utopia

"So the Obama administration says America's relations with our allies around the world can survive the latest WikiLeaks dump of U.S. diplomatic cables, and I'm inclined to agree. Truth is, the whole thing reads like a booze-addled Thanksgiving argument spun out of control, and nothing more. So the Middle East's corrupt autocrats hate each other and constantly goad the White House into taking out their garbage — big deal! God only knows the same good ol' boys will be the first to condemn us once things get tough and we choose to act. (To say nothing of Julian Assange's impending lawsuit.) In the meantime, sell the bad guys a few anti-missile defense systems and tell 'em to shut the hell up, because President Obama has one helluva lot more on his plate right now than just Iran, or North Korea, or Pakistan, or... you get the point.

But here's the bigger point: What really screams out from all these very much undiplomatic cables is how little Obama ever really broke from the Bush doctrine. I mean, in a certain way, he never really broke from it at all. Yes, there's been a laudable break from Cheney's Toughonics in terms of rhetoric, but in spirit, Obama still hasn't gotten realistic with his foreign-policy ambitions all that much. The president is constantly lecturing us about how America can't do it all, and yet consider how many plates he's trying to spin around the world. He keeps talking about how we need to accept this new world and how we can't solve any big problems on our own, but he hasn't acted like that's the case — not enough, anyway. And, quite frankly, Obama's lack of adjustment to his own articulation of a global future is starting to make America look weaker than we really are.

If I might be so bold as to warn of a strategic trilemma here: America can't simultaneously be about stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and promoting democratic regime change and unwinding our wars in a responsible fashion. Something's got to give, on multiple fronts...

...It's high time, then, for Obama to put his Nobel in the closet, get his inner Nixon on, and get to work in the one arena where John Boehner and Mitch McConnell don't share his bed. If we really want to move the ball forward instead of just keeping a bunch in the air, compromise had better start sooner than the hunt for some Australian "journalist" with a fancy Web site."

I highly recommend reading his entire thought process.

He's right.

The weakness of the Administration is not that it is too soft. Or compassionate. Or any other damn fool notion of weakness.

It is too much hubris. And ambition. As with his domestic policy. And American policy, domestic and international, writ large.

The weakness of American international and domestic policy is not too little muscle.

It is too little humility.

What weakness looks like in any serious human endeavor. For those for whom strength has meaning beyond their own egos.

And ignoring that fact just entails more failure.

Have at it, boys. I say. I'm sure it will make all that failure go away.

Just like North Korea. Or Iran. Or Cuba. Or Zimbabwe.

Or any government organized primarily around power rather than around freedom.

Failure is nothing new to the cynics who manipulate for power.

What is new is the notion that no one should be listening to their excuses.

No how matter how many ways they spin it. Or try to talk their way around the failure.

Strength is humility in the face of failure.

And a commitment to real success. When making excuses is easier.

Says the man to his excuses.

Perhaps something stronger is in order.

Love thy neighbor would be a good start. To understand him or her.

Respect for freedom of conscience would help us learn and comprehend the world better.

And the liberty and democratic self-determination that flow from those principles, for peoples as much as for individuals, would center all of our efforts more effectively.

And the proof is in the rotten pudding made of its alternatives.

Enjoy that pudding, folks

Myself. I'll just be expecting something better.