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The Public Diplomacy Blog is intended to stimulate dialog among scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals from around the world in the public diplomacy sphere. The opinions represented here are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School.

PRESSING THE RESET BUTTONS AFTER JANUARY 20
JAN 27, 2009 - 10:33AM PDT
Posted by John Robert Kelley
All posts by this author

Seldom have incoming presidents of the United States used the platform of the inaugural address to go beyond the necessary task of speaking to millions of Americans by including a message intended for the hundreds of millions watching worldwide. In a gesture comparable to that of John F. Kennedy in 1961, President Barack Obama imparted commitments to peace, security and prosperity and directed them to friends and foes alike. Like Kennedy before him, Obama methodically churned through a checklist of critical audiences: the Muslim world, the poor and the wealthy, the despots and the disillusioned. If the global public fascination with America’s 44th President is any indicator, chances are all of these audiences watched intently. Why is this important? Because the ascendancy of Obama accompanies a "reset moment" for America’s image abroad. It is more than a honeymoon period afforded an incoming chief executive while onlookers wait intently for an agenda to crystallize. This is hardly unique. It also represents more than a simple turning of the page from one era of administration to the next, as when Iran freed American hostages on Inauguration Day 28 years ago for the plain reason that Ronald Reagan was not Jimmy Carter. High international approval of Obama’s election offers an extraordinary chance for the United States to sever its ties with a decidedly bleak recent history of its international relations and begin anew. The question still lingering is this: how long can this good thing last? Prospects for the short term – six to nine months down the road – look promising, at first glance. By dint of Obama’s magnetism, one can logically expect a sharp uptick in the Pew Global Attitudes Survey’s favorability figures on the United States. Other factors, such as the promised closure of the Guantanamo prison camp and expected withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, signal clean breaks from the Bush years and will be applauded internationally. This should be viewed as a political achievement at home and abroad. Events of the last eight years have taught us that America’s standing is not just a publicity issue, but one of security as well. International favorability with America translates into safety and happiness domestically. The danger in all this, of course, is Obama’s widespread appeal (and the fortuitous fact that he is not George W. Bush) will further obscure the long-overdue imperative of resetting the way America goes about engaging directly with publics overseas once the magic wears off. Resetting public diplomacy for long-term success begins now. A change at the top, now almost a biennial tradition, is preordained: Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James Glassman will be replaced with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s own selection. Provided the swift confirmation of Secretary Clinton’s choice (Bush’s first Under Secretary, Charlotte Beers, needed nearly seven months), a full review of America’s public diplomacy organizations and operations will commence and put paid to assessing the tools available. Doug Wilson, Former Congressional Director and Senior Advisor for the U.S. Information…... FULL TEXT
 
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