aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

We need public diplomacy, not public relations

From an OpEd by Price Floyd, director of media affairs for the State Department until several weeks ago and is now the director of external relations at the Center for a New American Security:

We have eroded not only the good will of the post-9-11 days but also any residual appreciation from the countries we supported during the Cold War. This is due to several actions taken by the Bush administration, including pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol (environment), refusing to take part in the International Criminal Court (rule of law), and pulling out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (arms control). The prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib and the continuing controversy over the detainees in Guantanamo also sullied the image of America.

Collectively, these actions have sent an unequivocal message: The U.S. does not want to be a collaborative partner. That is the policy we have been “selling” through our actions, which speak the loudest of all. [...]

We need a president who will enable the U.S. to return to its rightful place as the “beacon on a hill”—a country that others want to emulate, not hate; a country that proves through words and deeds that it is free, not afraid.

We need to demonstrate that we are willing to help out our neighbors and to do what is necessary to ensure that our country and its citizens are safe.

We must do the real work of public diplomacy, not public relations.