Former President Bill Clinton caused a bit of a stir recently when he suggested Hillary Clinton, if elected, would send her husband and H.W. Bush around the world to help repair the United States’ image after seven years of deteriorating global standing. (Bush 41 reportedly isn’t interested.)
In light of Clinton’s comments, Bush was asked at a White House press conference last week if he would consider a “goodwill mission to restore the country’s good name abroad.” The president said, “That’s what I do during my presidency. I go around spreading goodwill and talking about the importance of spreading freedom and peace.”
Apparently, he meant that rather literally. Yes, the president is planning some road-trips.
President George W. Bush’s diplomatic passport will acquire a slew of new country stamps during his final year in office as he tries to rebuild the U.S.’s international standing and create a foreign-policy legacy beyond Iraq.
The president plans trips to the Middle East, Africa, Asia and South America, which would make 2008 his busiest year abroad. While his major domestic initiatives may get stalled by a Democratic majority in Congress and the gridlock caused by election-year politics, he still has an opportunity to exert his influence overseas. […]
While the president will strive to strengthen alliances, it won’t come at the expense of continuing to prosecute the war on terror, said Jim Jeffrey, the deputy White House national security adviser.
“We want to be well-perceived in the world,” Jeffrey said in an interview. “But more importantly, we want to formulate policies that will protect the American people.”
With all due respect to the White House, maybe we’ll be “well-perceived in the world” if the president stays home and changes his policies, instead of traveling abroad and keeping his existing policies?
Apparently, the White House doesn’t see it that way, and Bush will be racking up the frequent-flier miles.
In early January, Bush flies to Israel for his first visit as president. While in the region, he also will visit the West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The trip is a follow-up to the Israeli-Palestinian talks that the U.S. hosted in Annapolis, Maryland, last month.
In February, Bush will tour Africa, where U.S. public health initiatives are popular. That will be followed by an April North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Romania, a June U.S.-European summit in Slovenia, a July meeting of Group of Eight leaders in Japan, the summer Olympics in China and a November Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru. Bush is likely to visit other, nearby countries during those trips.
Many presidents focus on international affairs in their final year as a way to compensate for their waning influence at home. For Bush, it’s unlikely to provide an escape.
“Bush also has problems at home, but he has even bigger problems with the rest of the world,” said Andy Kohut, president the Pew Research Center in Washington.
A Pew study of public opinion in 47 nations found “extensive” anti-Americanism and “increasing disapproval” of the cornerstones of U.S. foreign policy.
A perception that Washington acts unilaterally was shared by 89 percent of the French, 83 percent of Canadians and 74 percent of Britons. America’s image in most Muslim nations is “abysmal,” Pew said.
I doubt Bush’s personal appearances overseas will do much to change that. Call it a hunch.