THE NEW AMERICA--NEOMCKINLEYIAN:

For 'New America,' a fresh Atlantic alliance (Felix Rohatyn, May 11, 2004, International Herald Tribune)

I am not sure that I can differentiate, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has, between the "Old Europe," which opposed America on Iraq, and a "New Europe," which supported America; Americans must recognize that public opinion in the vast majority of Europe is heavily opposed to U.S. policies. But I strongly believe that a "New America" has replaced the "Old America" and that this will be a more and more important factor in America's perspective on the construction of Europe, and on the world.

Even before the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration's views on a variety of policy issues differed significantly from those of Europe. On the Kyoto Protocol; on the International Court of Justice; on the Antiballistic Missile Treaty; on the role of the United Nations and on many other issues, the administration wanted to be free of international constraints. At the same time, from the death penalty to pre-emptive war, from religion to genetic foods, a deepening divide in policy, culture and public opinion has been opening between the two sides of the Atlantic.

The "New America," the post-Sept. 11 America, is very different from the "Old America." Whether the change is permanent or temporary, whether it reflects new personalities or new philosophies, it is too early to tell. I believe the change is permanent, that the trauma is very deep, that it is very hard for America to face the reality that it is both vulnerable and invincible. It will influence everything America does from now on, both in its foreign and in its domestic policies.

A recent special issue of The Economist on America was illuminating. The "New America," according to this view, which I share, is more radical and more committed than ever to the need for unchallenged military dominance. It is more individualistic than Europe, more religious, conservative and patriotic. This American exceptionalism - which is now, in every respect, far stronger than the "French exception" ever was - was brought to the surface by Sept. 11.

President George W. Bush is committed to radical changes in America's domestic and foreign policies, which are more than ever focused on America's national interest. As a result, Americans see Europe as old-fashioned and bureaucratic, and think of America's future as more connected to China, India and Russia than to the Atlantic partnership, which served America so well during the last half century. [...]

From the end of World War II until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, America and Europe appeared to grow increasingly similar in many ways, as the trans-Atlantic economic relationship steadily grew in importance. But at the end of the 1980's, our economies began to diverge, and America began to grow more rapidly than Europe.

A rational observer would be at least tempted to suppose that the Newness (more a return to Oldness) has something to do with the more rapid growth, no?

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 11, 2004 7:54 AM