Kerry as President
Herbert London (archive)
February 28, 2004 | Print | Send
As unlikely as it may be, consider the possibility that John Kerry is the next president of the United States. What are the likely policy shifts should this occur? How would Kerry be different from President Bush?
Although these questions are speculative, the likely outcomes are easily predictive.
Based on Kerry’s positions expressed in the Senate and on the campaign trail his stance is known and presumably would serve to guide his policy prescriptions.
While Kerry did vote for the war in Iraq, he voted against the appropriations for that nation’s rehabilitation. During the campaign, Kerry continually noted that this nation cannot cut and run from Iraq, but he believes the situation should be “internationalized.” That is a euphemism for greater involvement of the U.N.
What Kerry does not note is the utter failure of the U.N. to play a systematic and coherent role in Iraq or anywhere else in the Middle East. Moreover, Germany and France, the nations Kerry contends we should have cultivated for the war effort are vehemently opposed to U.S. hegemony in the region. And if recent accounts are at all accurate, the leaders of these nations have been compromised by financial arrangements with Saddam Hussein.
Yet this position is consistent with his impulse for multilateralism in general. Kerry is persuaded the United States should be encouraging a world community of interests, one that recognizes the importance of alliances.
What he overlooks is that most western European states are eager to challenge America’s world dominance. They consider multilateralism the ropes that can subdue an American Gulliver.
Without the military means to pursue their interests, European states rely solely on diplomacy, which, as the prelude to war in Iraq indicated, has its limitations.
If one were to extend this multilateral orientation to other critical matters, Kerry would most likely have supported the Kyoto Accord, despite the fact Russia disapproves and India and China – the world’s most populous nations – are not included in the agreement.
It is also likely Kerry would be inclined to support the International Criminal Court even though some of the world’s most tyrannical states are members. What these concerns add up to is a Democratic leader inclined to consider international before national interests having bought into the proposition that global stability is more easily achieved through alliances and diplomacy.
Senator Kerry, as his background suggests, is not disinclined to support the use of the U.S. forces abroad, but like most Democrats believes that our national interests are restricted to humanitarian interests solely, what I would call “restrictive internationalism.”
Self conscious Americans unable to come to grips with U.S. dominance on the world stage, chastise President Bush for “going alone,” a largely exaggerated judgment. But what these people, including Kerry, fail to consider is that the current administration is responsible for eliminating two of the most violent and tyrannical regimes on the globe. Does anyone think this would have happened if the U.S. relied on diplomacy and our so-called allies in Europe?
Does any serious policy analyst think this would be a safer world if the U.S. acted only with the complicity and approval of our so-called European allies?
George Washington spoke disapprovingly of entangling alliances two centuries ago. Notwithstanding Kerry’s instincts, this is still good advice today. If the U.S. has to overcome any deficiency, it is the naïve belief this nation cannot act alone even when it is in our interest to do so. I doubt Kerry appreciates that matter. As president his positions – as I see it – would be catastrophic in fighting the war on terrorism and protecting U.S. interests abroad.
“President Kerry?” I hope not.
Herbert London is president of the Hudson Institute and John M. Olin professor of humanities of the New York University, publisher of American Outlook and author of "Decade of Denial," recently published by Lexington Books. He's reachable through www.benadorassociates.com .
©2003 Herbert London |
