Who Are We?

It is difficult to describe my experience living abroad, as an ambassador of my country. To put it frankly, I am sometimes ashamed to be asked to represent the United States, most especially in conversations about international relations. I am asked difficult questions on a daily basis. This past weekend a friend asked me whether I believe that "Americans like war". I painfully answered that, yes, many do. More accurately, I observe that Americans are willing to support war if we are fed to believe that it will preserve our comfortable way of life. The national budget prioritizes bombs even more than education, healthcare, public transportation, or any other program that might serve people.

I was intentional about my choice to move abroad now. In the past few years I have become increasingly politically active. I participated in protests. I write my representatives weekly. I sign petitions. But I do so with a sense of fatalism, unsure how I can use my skills to make a real difference. I needed to take a break, get a new perspective, reflect on what is "American" in my personality, and consider what role I want to play in this world.

In a recent NYT article, the author Roger Cohen and his interviewee Barack Obama gave a more positive spin on America. How might we regain the capacity to inspire? I want to believe it is possible, but already feel defeated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/opinion/10cohen.html?th&emc=th

"Obama, speaking less than a month before the Iowa caucus on Jan. 3, continued: “We can and should lead the world, but we have to apply wisdom and judgment. Part of our capacity to lead is linked to our capacity to show restraint.”

That was striking: an enduring belief in U.S. leadership coupled with a commitment to, as he also put it, acting “with a sense of humility.” Skepticism about the American idea and American global stewardship has grown fast during the Bush years.

There are many reasons: the failures in Iraq; the abyss between U.S. principle and practice (Abu Ghraib); the rise of other nations (China); startling displays of American incoherence (Iran); economic vulnerability (the dollar as declining store of value); and general resentments stirred by any near hegemonic power.

All this has led some to conclude that the world would be better off if America slunk home...Still, Obama stands by the universality of the American proposition: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness under a constitutional government of limited powers. “I believe in American exceptionalism,” he told me, but not one based on “our military prowess or our economic dominance.”

Rather, he insisted, “our exceptionalism must be based on our Constitution, our principles, our values and our ideals. We are at our best when we are speaking in a voice that captures the aspirations of people across the globe.”"