Rebuilding the American Image

President Obama is not equally good at everything, but I think he has virtually a perfect pitch on diplomatic matters. His challenge is to change the tone and the image of the US abroad, as quickly and effectively as possible, and on the basis of his performance last week, he gets a straight A on that. Moreover, I would say that he was not simply soft, conciliatory, and compromising. When it came to Iran, North Korea, and indeed the European consensus, he was quite clear on where the United States stands, what our country is willing to do, and how we will protect our vital interests as well as our current vision and mission.

Do I expect deep substantive differences in our relation to Iran, North Korea, Europe right away, as compared to our relation in 2007-8? No, I don't. But President Obama is making it possible to have better, saner relations, and for that the whole world owes him a very big thank you.

By Howard Gardner

 |  April 6, 2009; 6:49 PM ET
Category:  Presidential leadership
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