MISREADING THE PUBLIC: The Myth pf a New Isolationism.

• Author: Maynes, Charles William
• Position: Review

MISREADING THE PUBLIC: The Myth pf a New Isolationism by Steven Kull and I.M. Destler Brooking, $44.95

Steven Kull and I.M. Destler have performed an important service for those interested in this country's foreign policy. In Misreading the Public, they have revealed two dirty secrets about official Washington: its low regard for the views of the American people in the field of foreign policy and the consequent official failure to prepare the public for the kind of world role this country by its size and traditions ought to play. The research Kull and Destler have carried out makes it clear that the failure is bipartisan in nature and the consequences reach beyond any single administration. If readers are concerned that the United States is ending up with a pinched global vision and is falling far short of the ideals for which this country ought to stand, they can start to understand why by reading this book.

Jimmy Carter used to claim he wanted a government as "good" as the American people, but few others in either party in Washington would seek such a government, particularly in the field of foreign affairs. As Kull and Destler document, senior officials in both parties regard the American people as narrow-minded and self-interested isolationists scornful of and unwilling to cooperate with others. The irony--or the tragedy--is that official Washington almost totally misreads the preferences of the electorate they pretend to represent.

To establish the wisdom gap between the elite and the people, Kull and Destler developed an ambitious research agenda. First, they interviewed 88 policy practitioners in order to sketch out a policy maker's x-ray of public attitudes on such questions as support for the United Nations, foreign aid, U.S. participation in international peacekeeping, and the size of the defense budget. The group consisted of 12 members of Congress, 16 congressional staff assistants, 19 officials in the Executive Branch, 18 leading journalists and 18 leaders from the non-governmental community.

Second, they hired pollsters from both the Bush and Clinton campaigns to conduct national surveys to determine whether the public actually held the views the elite attributed to them.

Third, when it turned out beyond any doubt than the public was in fact much more internationalist and progressive than the elite believed--that it voiced strong support for the United Nations, that it wanted the U.S. Government to pay its U.N. dues, that it...