Being an American abroad can often be a confusing experience. No more so than when citizens of your host country start criticizing U.S. policies in your presence. These sticky situations, which those of us who are going to be studying abroad will undoubtedly confront, always leave me wondering: What’s an American to do?
During the least popular parts of Bush presidency — and let’s be honest, pretty much all eight years were unpopular ones in the eyes of the world — some of my friends would deal with tense confrontations with foreigners by feigning ignorance. “I’m just a stupid American,” one of them joked. Others simply said they were Canadian. I object strongly to both of these approaches; to me, they seem at best distasteful and at worst tantamount to anti-Americanism.
President Obama, however, went a third route during his recent trip abroad. On the same day that Europeans received him and his wife with great fanfare, Obama did the unthinkable: criticizing America before a foreign audience.
While speaking to a crowd in Strasbourg, France, Obama said, “Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.” While Obama went on to criticize Europeans for fueling anti-Americanism, the significance of this zinger wasn’t lost on the European media. A story about the incident in the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph began by noting that Obama’s “speech in Strasbourg went further than any United States president in history in criticising his own country’s action while standing on foreign soil.”
My gut reaction to Obama’s relatively faint criticism was shock: Like a proud parent, the president should highlight the best of his nation and should resist the urge to critique it. After all, if he feels there are problems at home, he actually has the power to do something about it.
But what’s bad for the goose is not always bad for the gander. There are some things that a president can’t say that private citizens — including students — can. And what we do choose to say matters: Person-to-person diplomacy is often more powerful than any foreign policy stance a president can take.
Unfortunately, there is no foreign service training for students traveling abroad, so I have often been confused about how to react when confronted by politically hostile foreigners. A Mexican told me just this past summer that Americans were not welcome in his country, and the year before that, a Palestinian cab driver told me that Bush was a warmonger. During the Bush presidency, I feared anti-Americanism was so great that admitting even the smallest chink in the armor would only add fuel to the fire. So I often found myself defending policies abroad that I had criticized while at home.
But there are pitfalls to this approach as well. For one, it’s clearly dishonest. No American agrees with all American policies, and no country is perfect. Pretending that we are may only further our reputation for being self-righteous and arrogant.
Times have changed, however. It seems that Obama has ushered in a global rise in pro-American sentiment. Not that we should fool ourselves into thinking that anti-Americanism is gone; being hypercritical of the United States to foreigners could very well do a great deal of damage to our reputation. But students going to the rapidly growing number of countries that are now inclined to see us positively can speak from of a position of strength about their view of the world and their own country.
And, if at times, that view is slightly critical of America, maybe that’s all right. If you’re lucky, such an honest attitude will help you become the toast of some bar in a far-off land. Only this time, for all the right reasons.
Adam Bradlow is a sophomore from Potomac, Md. He can be reached at abradlow@princeton.edu.
Read More
Why can’t lecturers win the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching?
Jerry ZhuLet’s acknowledge those who make “boutique teaching” possible, those who work tirelessly to make our rigorous curricula more accessible, and those who dedicate their time to advising and guiding us through all the challenges we face at this University. Lecturers should be eligible for the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Let’s acknowledge those who make “boutique teaching” possible, those who work tirelessly to make our rigorous curricula more accessible, and those who dedicate their time to advising and guiding us through all the challenges we face at this University. Lecturers should be eligible for the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Princeton’s administration of justice is Trumpian
Frances BroganThe disparity between the University’s approach to Giberson and its approach to pro-Palestinian protestors reflects a concerning trend of appeasing an increasingly emboldened right rather than resisting the threat it poses to academic freedom and the wellbeing of Princeton students.
Secular Opening Exercises? Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water
Frank StrasburgerThe secular makes no room for the spiritual. What Opening Exercises are meant to convey is the spirit of the institution so that it may be kept alive from generation to generation.
The secular makes no room for the spiritual. What Opening Exercises are meant to convey is the spirit of the institution so that it may be kept alive from generation to generation.
