Arcadia Foundation

Foreign Policy Magazine’s Joshua Keating published a brief opinion editorial on Colombian President Alvaro Uribe bucking the recent trend of Presidents seeking to extend their tenure in office. Subsequently, the United States government not only supported his decision but praised it, and rightfully so.

Mr. Keating feels that such kudos given to a leader for ‘not pulling a Zelaya‘ sends a condescending message. Though I personally chuckled at the reference and will certainly ‘retweet it’ as it were, I disagree completely.

The United States (for working purposes of this post, looking forward to your comments) is a democracy. Unfortunately,  fundamental elements of democracy are being challenged all over the world from the highest seat of power. We see it in nations we have ignored, and in those rising to challenge us at the hegemonic roundtable. Its a reality we can’t ignore.

And so yes, in these times, repeated promotion not only rewards the executive and the country for which he leads, but subtly belittles those authoritarians who believe they can convince the world that extending their time as leader is in their nation’s best interest. Condescending in tone and in duration of this post, to those leaders – that is simply not how it works. I believe Mr. Obama’s strategy is straightforward – we’re both (Uribe and Obama) meeting with leaders weekly who don’t adhere to their own democracies and in these times, we must support each other.

You can’t expect sanctions to be lifted, trade relations to improve or to get a viable piece of the geopolitical pie if you’re not willing to adhere to rule of law, like you suggest your respective citizenry do.

Comments