Stupid, stupid, stupid

That's how I feel about how our country has been handling foreign affairs. Policy itself has become very difficult for me to take sides on since 9/11- I've gone from being completely anti-Bush/anti-war, to thinking that maybe the administration's bold, aggressive policy could work, then back to thinking that we're being led by a bunch of lying militants...

The situation is complex. I don't think there's an easy answer to what our policy should be, and it will take a lot of time and distance to be able to judge the merits of what we've done.

But boy, we've been very stupid about how we've presented ourselves to the world. Specific policy aside, our government has done very little to explain ourselves to the world. The most memorable "statements" we've made have been with bombs and photographs of ourselves desecrating our enemies. On top of that, we sprinkle empty rhetoric about "freedom".

A lot of people say "so what". A lot of people claim that an American who cares about what the world thinks of America is somehow anti-American. I've thought about this for a while- maybe things are so simple that we're all just out for our own interests, and when we get hit hard, we need to put our heads down in determination and push forward with all of the toughness we can muster and not give a Goddamn shit about what anyone else thinks.

But that's stupid. Not caring about the world is anti-American. America is what it is because it symbolizes hope for the world, not rebellion against it.

I'm pissed off at the Bush Administration right now, but not because of my feelings about the war. Come on, guys- if we're the "good guys", it shouldn't be that tough to explain ourselves to the world and get them on our side.

Foreign policy is more complicated than ever. But it shouldn't be difficult for America to remain a respected country in the world. We were attacked and we had all of our friends standing beside us. How we've managed to screw that up and diminish our credibility in the world is the result of just being stupid.