Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

A Matter of Character

The New Republic Online: Character Acting: “Behind the Bush campaign’s defiant, happy talk about Iraq is a strange indifference to the world we are supposedly saving. It doesn’t matter that Iraqis don’t see us as liberators as long as we do. It doesn’t matter that the world increasingly lacks faith in the United States as long as we have faith in ourselves. ‘I want you to know that I believe with all my heart that America remains the great idea that inspires the world,’ Schwarzenegger said in his closing crescendo. He may want to believe that. I do, too. But recent polls suggest that, while people around the world still believe in democracy, fewer and fewer see the United States as its champion. The only way to change that is by understanding why others don’t see us as we see ourselves and by adjusting our policies so they better reflect our creed. ”

Check out this well-written editorial by Peter Beinart, an editor at The New Republic magazine.