Transcript
IVO DAALDER: . . .
Let me start with that issue, the issue of tone. Tone is important. It seems that ever since the president was reelected on November 2nd, he has gone out of his way to try to project a different kind of tone when it comes to talking about European-U.S. relations and, indeed, when talking about Europe. It has become now part of the administration's lexicon to talk nice when it comes to Europe. That's different. We didn't have that too often, at least in the first term.
Bush said in his first press conference after being reelected, on November 4th, his opening statement was all about the importance of working with Europe and with partners and friends. He mentioned NATO and the European Union, he talked about reaching out to the allies and working together. He did so again in his inaugural address, which was empty when it comes to the mentioning of all the countries that the State Department, I'm sure, would have loved to have seen mentioned in an inaugural address, but, again, reinforced that the United States and this administration wanted to work with Europe. And he did so, finally, in the state of the union address, once again reiterating that he looked forward to working with Europe on the host of issues that confront us, the United States and indeed the world.
The secretary of state, moments after being sworn in, got on an airplane and traveled to eight European countries as well as to Israel and the West Bank. But she did not go to Asia, she did not go to Iraq, she did not go—aside from Israel and the West Bank, she didn't go anywhere else. She went to Europe. And of course the president is making his first post-inaugural trip to Europe.
The new tone that this is supposed to underscore matters in the very same way that the tone of the first term mattered. So style can sometimes have a substance all of its own. And we remember what the first term was all about. It was about old versus new Europe. It was about comparing Germany to Cuba and Libya. It was about serving freedom fries on Air Force One. It was, as Condoleezza Rice was reported to have said, about forgiving Russia but ignoring Germany and punishing France. That kind of rhetoric had an impact on the way the United States and Europe dealt with each other. And the fact that that rhetoric is now, like the old Rumsfeld, gone, apparently—although yesterday on the Hill it may not have appeared that way—but at least in Europe that kind of rhetoric appears to be gone for the moment, that's important. It sets the possibility for a positive new direction in relations between the United States and Europe.
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