Daily Times

Bucharest, Romania: It was neither inevitable nor predictable that the US could become a global laughing stock either so quickly or near universally. The incredible ineptness, heavy handedness and indeed incompetence of its government have made the US into a prime time piñata. Folly is not too strong a descriptor.

A seemingly long time ago and despite extended spikes of anti-Americanism, the US was the undisputed leader of the Free World. Perhaps the end of the Soviet Union and the evaporation of the meaning of the so-called Free World made it inevitable that the US would descend from position of super or indispensible power (as a former Secretary of State labelled her country) to at best first amongst equals. But it was not foreseeable the descent would be so great.

Yes, during the 1950s and the anti-communist pogrom, notably led by the venomous senator from Wisconsin ‘Tail Gunner’ Joe McCarthy, and throughout the Vietnam War a decade and a half later, the US rightly deserved many slings and arrows directed against it. But ridicule and derision never fired anti-American sentiments that persisted around the world until today. And, at times, being an American is painful especially when the greater good and larger potential the US possesses to lead the world remain dormant and wasted.

How did we get here? After World War II, Europe and Asia lay in waste. The US was probably as dominant as any power had been in history. That dominance was used to rebuild Europe and Asia, making enemies not only friends but also flourishing democracies.

Big events eroded US international standing: the Vietnam War; Watergate; the failed raid to secure Americans seized as hostages in Tehran in 1979. Yet, at the end of George H W Bush’s presidency in 1993, the US deserved the appellation of sole superpower with appropriate standing in the international community with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the subsequent building of a Europe whole and free; smashing Saddam Hussein, and ignominiously throwing Iraq out of Kuwait in 1991; and reviving the US economy.

Among the skill sets Bill Clinton brought to the presidency, luck and good fortune topped the list, beginning with being benefactor of Bush’s four years. Aside from the Lewinsky Affair and flurries of Republican allegations of wrongdoing as Arkansas’ governor — unproved — his only real international crisis was over Kosovo and Serbia. Although it was an ugly win after 78 days of bombing a fifth rate Serbian military (doing at the end of the day little real damage), Slobodan Milosevic yielded. And a win is a win.

George W Bush’s unreadiness for high office led first to alienating Russia with unilateral abrogation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and after September 11, 2001, descended into catastrophe. Quickly evicting the Taliban from Afghanistan in the Fall of 2001, the Bush team ignored the ‘what next’ question of setting in place a stable and functioning government in favour of the fatally flawed and misinformed decision to attack Iraq for a second time, which would later send international opinion of the US into storm cellars far underground. Thus, when Barack Obama took office on January 20, 2009, the new president had an unprecedented opportunity to lead the US back to top tier status.

Not only did the president, along with Republicans and fellow Democrats, fail, the failure is far worse than international derision at US incompetence. The last few months of US politics were textbook cases of how to destroy any semblance of competence and confidence both at home and abroad. The US’s credibility and leadership are on the line.

It takes more than the shutdown of government and failure to pass a budget to sink a village or in this case a nation. The staggering incompetence in rolling out the Affordable Health Care Act is mind numbing. The president’s outright untruthful statement about not losing existing health insurance policies is actionable. And the firestorm over the allegations of National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance of tens of millions of Europeans, along with at least three dozen heads of state, must sweep the equivalent of international academy awards for derelict performance by leading and supporting actors.

The back of the hand treatment given to the US by the Saudis with direct criticism of Obama’s policy towards Syria and the region (and turning down a UN Security Council seat), along with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s condescension towards the president, are further insults to the US’s already tattered reputation. For international observers, the main question is, is this only the first act of even greater folly yet to come?

Sadly, neither solution nor explanation of the US’s new role as international laughing stock comes to mind. If Obama could lead, as many critics fear he cannot, what can he do? Stay tuned as the US follies continue.

The writer is senior advisor at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, and chairman of the Killowen Group that advises leaders of business and government