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Bush's Challenge: Bringing It Home
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19552 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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11 / 1991 |
3,726 Words |
| Author
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David Gergen
David Gergen writes on politics for U.S. News & World Report
and is former director of communications for the White House. |
"You should give us a chance to vote in your presidential election," smiled a leading African diplomat in New York. "After all, the president of the United States is becoming almost as important to us as he is to you."
He was not being entirely facetious. Amid the historic changes sweeping the world, especially the collapse of the Soviet empire, the United States has once again been thrust forward as the single most powerful nation in the world. No other country can challenge the full range of its political, military, economic and cultural preeminence. The world is no longer bipolar; however, it is not yet multipolar. For the moment at least, it is distinctly unipolar.
Japan and Europe are gathering economic steam, but when the crunch came in the Persian Gulf and then in Moscow, they played a secondary, supportive role to the United States. It was George Bush, far more than Toshiki Kaifu or Helmut Kohl, who was out front, pulling together the industrialized nations. Europe has even had trouble creating order out of the chaos in Yugoslavia.
Yet it is also clear that the United States cannot exercise its power in a unipolar fashion. It can no longer afford the kind of grand policy of the Marshall Plan because it is broke at home and its share of the world GNP has shrunk from about 50 percent just after World War II to some 28 percent today. Nor will other powers permit a new Pax Americana. They insist upon a shared partnership, and they mean to share through a working relationship with the White House.
It is thus of signal significance to the rest of the world who occupies the American presidency. Is he someone who shares their interests and values; will he work closely with their top players and keep the United States actively engaged in international affairs? Or will he turn inward, protectionist, and aloof to new opportunities for shaping a durable peace? In short, given the extraordinary power of the United States at the moment, can they count on the United States for wise leadership?
Well then, who would be elected if the ballot were cast open? With the current field of candidates for the presidency in 1992, there is little doubt that the rest of the world would probably vote in much the same way as the American electorate is expected to do: George Bush would win in a landslide. Bush could well be the most admired president overseas since Kennedy and the most respected since Eisenhower. Indeed, the editor of International
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