America’s interests should guide both the tone and substance of foreign policy. What so irks some foreign states is Bush’s directness in pursuing these interests—a directness that motivated his decisions to withdraw from the flawed Kyoto Protocol and to advocate missile defense.
Policies of appeasement do nothing to advance U.S. goals. Bush’s predecessor tried that with scant results: witness, for example, his failure to influence China on arms sales or human rights. Clinton’s vacillating ambiguity proved that being liked doesn’t help us get countries to do what we want. What it gets us is cocksure rogue states convinced the U.S. will waffle under pressure.
Bush’s message is clear: we shall not compromise vital interests just to court popularity. If this message causes hard feelings, that is unfortunate. But it is decidedly better than letting our foreign policy be dictated from foreign soil.
—Jason L. Steorts ’03