Wednesday September 7, 2005

Column:

The United States is undeniably the most powerful country in the world today. The United States is also one of the most misunderstood countries in the world today. That just should not be, and Karen Hughes is out to change the way the world views America.

Karen Hughes is faced with a formidable task. Karen Hughes, undersecretary of state for diplomatic affairs, is the new face of America.

The new undersecretary has been described in a wide variety of ways throughout her professional life - driven, presidential confidante, not afraid to make waves or step on toes. All of those will come in handy for Karen Hughes PR czar and World Educator. It has fallen on Karen Hughes to explain to the world why the United States does what it does and why, to make the world realize that there is logic and a strong set of principles behind United States foreign policy.

I wish her well. For some reason the Bush administration has left the issue of US foreign policy PR unattended for too long. Perhaps it was just typical US arrogance and myopia. The United States may be part of the big, strong and Western world but they are a minority vastly outnumbered by the smaller, weaker non-Western countries of the world.

I hope that Ms. Hughes can make a difference. But I am not too confident. I am not sure that the new undersecretary for diplomatic affairs has successfully internalized the scope of her position.

It's hard to say "no" to the President of the United States, even if he is a friend, but I do no think that the first public outing for Hughes, even before officially assuming office, should have been as presidential representative at an American event even if it was for ISNA, The Islamic Society of North America, even if it is the largest annual meeting of American Muslims, even if her attendance was very much appreciated by the participants. Muslims in the United States feel besieged. They feel that their community has become the target of federal and local investigations and that actions against them are abusive and discriminatory.

It was admirable to have attended the conference, admirable but a colossal mistake. It is a terrible misunderstanding of the orientation and central point of her job. Hughes is not supposed to explain US foreign policy to Americans in America. She is supposed to explain it to our allies and enemies and fence sitters. She is the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, that implies foreign, not domestic policy.

The position Karen Hughes has been appointed to dictates that she meet and greet and convince foreign gatherings and individuals, not Americans.

It's important that the undersecretary said "We need to foster a sense of common interest and common values among Americans and people of different faiths and different cultures and different countries across the world" but I would have been more moved had Americans not been included in the sentence, I would have been more impressed had she been addressing a non-American audience when expressing that mandate.

With all due respect, I have a few suggestions for the new undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. I have a simple plan that will, I think, allow her to do her job more easily and effectively. Convincing the world, especially the parts of the world that foster US hatred and that recruit anti-US suicide/homicide bombers is neither simple nor easy, I know, but perhaps this plan will help.

My Plan:
*Create TV and radio stations that broadcast to those parts of the world that misunderstand, strongly disagree with or strongly disapprove of American foreign policy in their native languages.
*Do not create 24 hour news stations, that is antithetical to the mission.
*Broadcast US Culture - music, fashion, films TV, that is what the people of even those countries that hate the US crave and covet and cannot access on their own.
*Follow the same formula with web sites aimed directly at local audiences.
*Introduce news with an American spin casually, only at the beginning of every hour and half hour, do not hit them over the head, let it gradually insinuate itself into individual consciences.

Here's why the plan will work:
Even if people zap and surf to different stations, the US message will get out through kids and those people who love American music and culture.
The idea is to reach audiences with an American based message replete with the essential values of democracy and freedom, not to have local Tokyo Rose impersonators or even al Jazeera, put their own spin on things.

This is the only way to defeat non-Western and anti-United States propaganda machines.

American culture might not be the highest of world cultures but it is the most popular. Karen Hughes, go with our strengths.