"What the caterpillar calls the end of life, wise men call a butterfly."

In the case of the current administration, however, fundamental departures from existing foreign policy have been the norm from the outset. President Bush took office with no perceptible mandate for radical change in foreign policy. Yet, immediately upon assuming the presidential mantle, he set about reversing nearly every major foreign policy initiative that carried the Clinton imprint. He announced that the United States would stand aside from the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and he denounced eight proposed international agreements, even purporting to "unsign" one of them. As his direction became clear to the world, our friends and allies began to question, and then to dissociate themselves from, the actions of the U.S. government. Now, three years into the Bush II era, American standing and credibility in the world have dropped to their lowest point in decades.

Get Foreign Policy Back On Course!