The Middle East and the Problem of Overblown Rhetoric Posted by Shadi Hamid

Marc Lynch:

Obama has largely foregone the grand rhetoric which the Bush administration preferred.And good for him. It's not like the Bush administration's support for democracy actually created much democracy, after all. Instead, it raised expectations which were quickly dashed as the U.S. failed to follow through on its rhetoric (sound familiar?).

So is the problem the “grand rhetoric” or that the rhetoric failed to match reality? It sounds here like the latter. Let’s say that Bush had employed the same grand rhetoric but followed through with his promises to get serious about Arab democracy? Then, presumably, rhetoric would be a good thing. Rhetoric can be positive precisely because it raises expectations. The greater the expectations, the greater the pressure to meet them. One might call this the binding effect of overblown rhetoric: the more grandiose our rhetoric, the greater the cost that will be incurred if our rhetoric bears little resemblance to reality. And, during the Bush administration, the costs were indeed great.

There is, of course, a solution to the problem of inspiring rhetoric, and that is to bring our policies closer in line with our words, rather than the inverse.

Comments

[valentines day]

President George W. Bush’s speech at the National Endowment for Democracy Thursday calling for democracy and freedom as the norms of a new Middle East is a breath of fresh air ­ from American quarters more known recently for lobbing threats and bombs at us. We welcome this American initiative, and look forward to seeing the promise of the rhetoric followed by policy changes on the ground. Such an initiative can prove to be a great stimulus to enlightened change and modernization in this region, leading to better lives for all citizens, more prosperity and stability, and more peaceful relations with the rest of the world.

[racking]

racking
shelving
cold store equipment

professional racking & shelving manufacturer, pallet racking, drive in racking,
cantilever racking, longspan shelving, dexion racking

[muhtar]

Thank you for your sharing.! seslichat seslisohbet

[cheap coach handbags]

Thank you for your sharing! I like i very much!

[cheap coach bags]

Great comments! You are so nice, man! You never know how much i like'em!