Bush botched it.

AuthorHowell, Llewellyn D.
PositionWORLD WATCHER - George W. Bush - Viewpoint essay

FOR THE PAST EIGHT YEARS, there has not been a U.S. foreign policy--there has been a George W. Bush foreign policy, derived from personal philosophy, motives, prejudices, insecurities, and, well, ignorance. As the presidency has degenerated into a personal autocracy with executive orders, signing statements, vetoes, and recess appointments, Bush has dealt with foreign governments, international organizations, and global issues in a whimsical and almost childlike fashion. He ignores reality. The nation's best interests have been set to the side and the country has suffered for it--and it will continue suffering well into the next Administration, if not beyond. The U.S. cannot have a foreign policy that merely is based on bellicosity.

This judgment is not a matter of simply disagreeing with how foreign policy has been conducted. It is a response to the question raised by presidential candidate Ronald Reagan more than a quarter-century ago: "Is the country better off now, in the global context, than it was eight years ago?" Not only is the answer a resounding no, but there is not any foreign policy agenda item where the Administration can claim that we are.

Let us review. We can, and should, start with the primary Bush claim that the U.S. has held back terrorist attacks on the American homeland. We begin with the problematic term "homeland" and the extent to which it has become embedded in the nation's security terminology. The term dates to the aftermath of 9/11 and the nationalist fervor than has enveloped the U.S. ever since, thanks to the way the President has promoted the concept of a global enemy and the withdrawal into fortress America that has accompanied it. Homeland closely parallels the similar terminology employed in nationalistic and totalitarian states. Bush's "homeland" resonates far too well with Nazi Germany's "fatherland" and the Soviet Union's "motherland."

While we know that the President has been busy opening our mail and listening to our telephone conversations, we actually do not know that any more has been accomplished by this Administration in impeding terrorist attacks in the U.S. than there was during the Bill Clinton years. The previous attack to Sept. 11, 2001, was in 1993, also on the World Trade Center. Everything being equal, the next one would be in 2009, just in time for the new Administration.

While we wait out the odds, Pres. Bush has seen to it that the country has been infused with a nationalist homeland...

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