Change in Command for the Commander in Chief

Inaugurations are fundamental punctuation points in American history, but typically foreign policy — to which most Americans usually pay little attention — meanders forward along a ‘continuous’ track because while the President changes, the world — comprised of some nations trying to solve problems and other stirring up trouble — doesn’t change so much.

But this inauguration is different — because the world is very different than it was when George W. Bush came to office. Other key global stakeholders today doubt America’s ability to achieve its objectives. America has shown key military limits in Iraq; injected toxic financial products into the global financial system; and undermined its moral standing in the eyes of many global citizens with still fresh memories of secret prisons, water-boarding, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo standing as the antithesis of US leadership in promoting human rights. The mystique of America’s superpower status has been shattered — and allies have responded by counting less on US support and foes moving their agendas. There is no stable global equilibrium as President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office on the 20th of January 2009.

America has got to get back into the game, has to fix the problems that are causing its power to hemorrhage, and has to reintroduce itself to the world — while being careful to listen to and respect the views of other leading nations who are dismayed that, in the words of Anatol Lieven, the “US kicked down the very hill of which it had become king at the end of the Cold War.”

Barack Obama’s administration needs to shut Guantanamo, engage seriously in climate change efforts, apologize to the world for the economic calamity that it helped trigger and work to build a healthier global financial order that doesn’t depend on an American middle class that underproduces and overconsumes. Obama needs about three or four substantial “Nixon goes to China” successes, all of them tough to achieve.

America has to re-engineer its relationship with China, has to get US-Russian relations off a collision course, needs to revitalize its connections with Europe, has to deploy a multi-pronged strategy of grand bargain deal-making in the Middle East and South Asia — simultaneously dealing with Afghanistan/Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Israel/Palestine, and ultimately Iran. And it needs to finally end the anachronistic but still raging Cold War with Cuba. America needs to get back into a leadership role on WMD non-proliferation, the International Criminal Court, and demonstrate by word and deed a domestic commitment to human rights within its own borders — so as to relight the beacon on the proverbial hill.

This inauguration is potentially the most important punctuation point in America’s historical narrative in more than seven decades because the challenges at home and abroad are so great. Crises often define great leaders — and Barack Obama has an unparalleled opportunity to negotiate a new global social contract with the world hopefully restoring order and prosperity and gaining back some of the world’s confidence in the American Republic.

Steve Clemons is director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, a centrist think tank in Washington, DC. Clemons also publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note.