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In days to come, leaders you’ve never heard of, from countries you can barely locate, will assure you of their friendship and offer you assistance. My advice is to accept, for you will need the help. Your political advisors will want you to focus on activities that will keep your poll numbers high and get you reelected. I urge you to concentrate on duties that will restore our country's reputation and keep us safe.
As a child in Europe, I hid in bomb shelters while Nazi planes flew overhead. Listening to the radio, I exulted at the voice of Churchill and the wondrous news that American troops were crossing the Atlantic. I was seven years old when Allied forces hit the beaches at Normandy and later repelled Hitler's army at the Battle of the Bulge. By the time the war was won, I was eight, anxious to discover what peace might be like, and already in love with Americans in uniform. I arrived in America at age eleven.
Amid the swirl of events of these past fifteen years, four trends hold the greatest peril to American interests: first, terror and the rise of anti-Americanism in the Arab and Muslim worlds; second, the erosion of international consensus on nuclear proliferation; third, growing doubts about the value of democracy; and fourth, the gathering backlash against globalization due primarily to the widening split between rich and poor.
There is a fifth potential danger that could exacerbate the other four. Historically, America has responded to periods of deep involvement overseas by trying to withdraw. This was true after World War I, after Vietnam, and again following the cold war. As secretary of state serving under Bill Clinton, I devoted much of my energy striving to convince Americans that history had not ended when the Berlin Wall came down. Contrary to present perceptions overseas, the American people would much prefer to concentrate on problems at home than throw our weight around internationally. This is particularly the case when our efforts abroad go unappreciated. After Iraq, Americans will be reluctant to take risks. So should we be, but not so reluctant that new threats are allowed to grow.
We are in a cantankerous mood. We were reminded by Hurricane Katrina that the fight against poverty and injustice in our own society remains unfinished. We worry that our jobs are being exported and our borders overrun. There is much going on in the world that we don't understand and feel increasingly disinclined to try. A recent poll found that 42 percent of Americans say the United States should "mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can." Tending to one's own affairs is a virtue in America, and not much is expected of foreigners in any case. Why not disengage? Why wouldn't we let others take the lead? Your presidency must answer these questions by restating the case for, and redefining the content of, American leadership. This is not 1808 or 1908. If the tools of American power are allowed to rust, alternative powers will fill the void. Some will do no harm; others will do no good. The time will arrive when we must awaken again, and there is a risk that we will respond too late. Far better to remain vigilant. We have unique capabilities; we must use them for the right purposes.
You are inaugurated for the first time just once, so make the most of it. As soon as you begin to speak, America's voice will change. Around the globe, ears that have closed with open at least for a moment; so, too, will minds. Aim high, but keep your words down to earth. It is in the nature of presidential candidates to paint a rosy picture of what the world would be like in the event they are elected, as if the skies would open so that justice and righteousness might flow down. Expect no such gift. You are about to inherit a peck of troubles with no power over the heavens and little enough here below.
Despite the constraints on your power, remember that you are a "magnificent lion who can roam widely and do great deeds so long as [you do] not try to break loose from [your] broad reservation," in the words of political scientist Clinton Rossiter. "A strong president knows just how far to go in the direction [you] want."
These are words worth remembering when your instructions are being disregarded by your own cabinet, Congress is issuing subpoenas, the media is competing to win Pulitzer prizes at your expense, and you can’t give a commencement speech without scores of students (and some faculty members) standing up to protest. Keep thinking, "I am a magnificent lion." Given the work that lies ahead, let us hope that it's true.
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