Fareed Zakaria wrote “What Bush Got Right”

Do you get the feeling that America is locked into an inexorable, downward spiraling, nose dive?  Do you fear that Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran, Israel and Palestine, China, and others present an insurmountable impediment to our future?

Do you ever wonder whether the news you hear is intentionally presented so as to keep you apprehensive, unsure, and willing, if not anxious, to support massive government spending?

Fareed Zakaria

He was described, by Marion Maneker of the New York magazine, as “one of the more influential and original voices on American foreign policy and politics.”  (“Man of the World“) (FYI: Fareed pronounces Zakaria with “Z” as in zoo and the emphasis on “ka”.)

If you want to read insightful, understandable explanations of what’s going on in the world – what’s good – and what’s not so good – with a point of view that may surprise you, you can do no better than to follow Fareed Zakaria’s articles and columns in Newsweek magazine.

His most recent article with the amazing title of “What Bush Got Right” is a typically stunning example.

He explains that Bush’s basic concept of a “global War on Terror” was “poorly thought through, badly implemented, and has produced many unintended costs that will linger for years if not decades.”

He also explains that “In the past few years, many of these policies have been modified, abandoned or reversed.”

The three page Newsweek article explores U.S. foreign policy errors and improvements all around the world.

If you ever wonder whether there could be some validity to the administration’s obdurate position on torture, Mr. Zakaria’s elegant statement is clear and easy to appreciate.  “The embrace of torture and other extralegal methods has violated America’s noblest traditions and provided little in return.”

He winds up by explaining that the next president needs to intelligently “examine the Bush administration’s policies as they stand in January 2009″ — not as they were years earlier.

He tells an O’Henry like story about the president who entered office convinced that his predecessor was all wrong.  The new president proceeded to change everything.  And his party base was ecstatic.

He also explains that the next president needs to NOT make this same error.

As I said earlier, if you want to understand what’s going on in the world, you could do no better than to read Fareed Zakaria.

The first article of his that impressed the heck out of me was titled “How to Escape the Oil Trap.”  It was another Newsweek article, in their Aug. 29 – Sept. 5, 2005 issue.  He wrote, “If I could change one thing about American foreign policy, what would it be?  The answer is easy, but it’s not something most of us think of as foreign policy.  I would adopt a serious national program geared toward energy efficiency and independence.  Reducing our dependence on oil would be the single greatest multiplier of American power in the world.”

An excellent article, and a point that I feel was spot on – and still is.

So …

If you would like to read more about Fareed Zakaria, you could start with his Wikipedia article.  In Wikipedia’s usual helpful style, there are excellent links to further reading at the bottom of the article.