Benjamin Barber, the author of the international bestseller Jihad vs. McWorld, was the latest guest speaker at the USC Center for Public Diplomacy's "Conversations in Public Diplomacy" series on Thursday March 6th. Barber, who teaches at the University of Maryland in addition to doing high-profile political consulting work for many governments, titled his talk "Obama vs. Hillary vs. McCain: Does Anyone Understand Public Diplomacy and Interdependence?" His answer? Yes, but don't expect to hear any of this year's Presidential candidates own up to it; because that would mean admitting some harsh realities about global economic interdependence that won't sit well with American voters.
Barber has been fleshing out this argument lately. In a March 4th piece on The Huffington Post titled "Protectionism, Profits and Pandering" he writes that while Republican candidate John McCain can hide behind his party's "truth of sorts" that "unadulterated free trade serves the interests of global business" and is therefore good for the economy, the Democrats' party politics (and demographics) means they've had to reduce their discourse to myths about bringing exported manufacturing jobs back to the United States.
Barber told the USC gathering that in order to succeed Clinton and Obama have had to sell their blue-collar electorate on the promise of a resurgent blue-collar America even though they fully understand that the realities of the global economy don't support the rhetoric. Democrats "can't say the reality of globalization is there is no going back, the manufacturing jobs will not come back." The result is the candidates sound like they're espousing mercantilist and protectionist policies that "simply don't work anymore." They're stuck with a "19th century political tool kit" to address 21st century problems.
So should the Democrats start leveling with the electorate? Barber, who says either Clinton or Obama would be better than McCain, isn't recommending it. He points to the Obama campaign's strife over reports that chief economic adviser Austan Goolsbee reassured the Canadians that their candidate's speeches about rolling back NAFTA are more "political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans." Goolsbee denies the remark. Barber seems convinced the story cost Obama votes in Ohio and Texas. The harsh truth, he said yesterday, will have to come from outside the campaigns: "Those of us who don't need to get elected need to speak honestly."
On the Public Diplomacy front, Barber says Obama would be the "quick fix" for America's seriously tarnished image abroad, calling him a "walking emblem of Public Diplomacy because we are a multicultural nation." Then he hedged by saying that electing a woman President would do wonders for America's reputation.
If only these Democrats would make up their minds already!!
