Thursday, July 24, 2008

Occidental Rebranding of America Report

A group of right, left and center college students at Occidental, politically speaking, came up with a report to help rebrand America and get it through some of its toughest problems. They drew up monthly and yearly steps to achieve the goals. 

They even concluded a timetable was the best way to get out of Iraq. the report covers Iran and nuclear proliferation, torture, oil and energy, Afghanistan, Pakistan...
Here is there plan, that apparently is being looked at by both campaigns and other bigwigs around the nation. 

A little about the report from the professor who taught the class.
However, at the urging of many students, I agreed to offer a prescriptive course in the spring term of2008—“American Grand Strategy.” The course’s purview was the future—what ought to be US foreignpolicy for the new administration that will come to power in January 2009. Students first looked at national and global public opinion and concluded that in the years after the 9/11 attacks, President Bush and his administration had squandered an enormous amount of international goodwill, lost considerable moralauthority for the country, and approached the world with an Us vs Them mentality. Such a divisive attitude rather than a levelheaded strategy did not make for successful foreign policy.

Here is the mission statement:
The Mission of the United States of America is to ensurethe government abides by the values enumerated in itsfounding documents; to secure the rights of its citizens; tobuild upon existing relations and foster new relationships inan effort to promote the economic and social well-being ofthe global community; to protect the United States and itsallies from traditional and transnational threats; to enhance the position of the developing world; and to guarantee theprinciples of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are universally obtained, for the sake of the Common Good.

The way it starts out:
During the Bush administration, the United States has severely diminished its international credibility, influence and position as a global leader. However, as the world’s predominant military, economic and political power, the United States not only has the opportunity to build a secure and prosperous environment for its own citizens, but also has a historically unique chance to act in the interest of the international community.

The 44th President of the United States will thus have to live up to the imperative of
promoting the Common Good in the international arena by developing a strategy to
reassert the United States as a responsible, accountable and credible global leader.

In general terms, the strategy of the United States during the next presidential
administration (and beyond) must include a renewed commitment to multilateralism. The US will have to reengage its traditional political and military alliances and partnerships to signal its readiness for broad international cooperation and ultimately leadership. Additionally, the United States will have to delineate issue areas of strategic importance that demand immediate attention.

I believe that was the signal Obama gave in his speech today.