Frederick Co. MD "Up and Coming" Young Democrats

Obama Foreign Policy Promising

Kristin Hillers Bio

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in the National Council on US-Arab Relations Model Arab League Summit. For three days in Georgetown, I served on the Council of Arab Environmental Affairs, representing Kuwait. I, along with my fellow delegates, spent months researching Kuwait and Kuwait's official stances on issues ranging from the Gaza Strip to Alternative Energy. At times, it was possibly the most stressful, frustrating thing I've ever done in my life, but it was also quite possibly the most fun I've had in a really long time.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a political science and history double major. My definition of fun tends to be very different from everyone else.

Still, there was a profound sense of accomplishment in watching a resolution I helped work on pass through committee. It was fun making deals with different countries and meeting other people.

The Frederick News Post ran a story on Hood College's delegation for the Model Arab League and while I usually know better than to look at the comments section of any news site, I looked at the comments and couldn't believe at the rancor some contained, particularly when it was suggested that the Model Arab League was "a terror cell in the making". I shouldn't be surprised, after all, the comments section is the vox populi, for bad or for worse.

Yet compare it to the sentiment found when President Obama called America "arrogant" or when he bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. There were people in this nation who were insulted, and, perhaps not surprisingly, why there are countries that can't stand the United States.

Let me be clear, I love my country. My country gives me the right to vote, the right of free speech, religion, assembly and choice that cannot not be found in many other countries. I am proud to be an American and while I am interested in the world, America is my home. But we must understand that in an age where the world has gotten much smaller because of globalization, we cannot be the brutes of the world anymore and expect to get away with it. We cannot afford to make heroes and villains out of countries when we have little understanding of the region, the customs and the culture. We cannot afford to make mistakes out of arrogance or hate because of our inability to see past ourselves.

So far the Obama administration is showing promise of negating the foreign policy blunders of the previous administration. I take comfort in knowing that finally we have a president who understands that world affairs are not like comic books and America is not Captain America. What I worry about is the opposition, the supposed vox populi of Fox News and like that takes umbrage when he bows to the Saudi King and admits to the fallacies of America and while I know that they are merely sound and fury, it is frustrating to know that there are still people out there that don't understand the finesse involved in foreign affairs, the need for empathy and intellectualism and understanding, the ability to recognize that there are so many forces at work-international policy, regional policy, domestic policy, economic policy, defense policy, the list continues ad infinitum.

We need to understand this. We need to see that there is something so much bigger than ourselves and in order to just remain a member of the international community, let alone a major player, we need to stop being the brute that throws its weight around, live up to our ideals and regain the respect and the admiration of our peers.

I just hope Mr. Obama can live up to the challenge.

--------------------

To receive "Daily Updates" from Air-it-Out with George Wenschhof, click on "Subscribe to this feed" below.