Whether they or their money flooded political parties realize it or not, the carnival of ego driven declared candidates to run the United States are supposed also to be seen as world leaders. So far that has not been the case…in ANY case.
Afraid to risk opinions on the Iranian nuclear situation that used to be called a “negotiation,” not one of the candidates has made out his or her case for or against what has been going on or even to support a sitting President’s team out there that has clearly caved in to a tough Iranian negotiating team and leaves Israel isolated.
Meanwhile, most of the same “negotiators” from Europe were caught up in a tangle with Greece, a country they figure they could hammer more easily than Iran.
Bottom line: a whole world has been watching, calculating and wondering quietly if not aloud how reliable an ally the US might be as world tumults expand, not the least a demolished democracy in Tunisia.
Hardly escaping responsibility to demand answers are the world media and the posturing army of daily columnists and television performers just about everywhere, who seem more enamored of Donald Trumpian rhetoric, if it can be so elevated to such a level.
And there are a few parallels to the 1930’s as world industrial leaders scrambled to get a profitable piece of the Nazi pie being baked by Adolph Hitler. They came from the United States, France and Britain, all well aware of what was taking place, somehow not either caring or believing their own nations and their own hides might be soon under attack by German invaders who, while much more sophisticated than today’s ISIS madmen, were no less merciless.
Granted, what pass for the rules of politics demand candidates use all the devices and strategies available to assure they are All-Americans in the ways that people in big cities and small towns across the nation want to see them. The public relations and advertising image makers are paid very well to keep those wheels rolling. But we are in a very special period where our entire image is at risk, a reality seemingly not part of the daily media mix.
When all of this finally shakes out and some one of the army of declared candidates finally emerges as President of the United States, what will he or she do believably to insure that America is not merely seen as a bottomless pit of money and arms?
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Joe Honick is president of GMA International in Bainbridge Island, Wash. |
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