As of July 29th, one of President Bush's key confidantes and public relations experts, Karen Hughes, became the new State Department undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, to improve the U.S. image abroad.
At her confirmation hearing, Hughes told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee she would ask for help from American entertainment personalities to try and improve the U.S. image overseas. According to "The Crisis Counselor" source, Hughes told the committee that the U.S. must "improve our rapid response" to "confront hateful propoganda, dispel dangerous myths and get out of the truth" about U.S. efforts to improve conditions abroad.
There's a basic principle in persuasion theory: Reputation and Image is somewhat/very much based on reality. Can Karen Hughes convince other societies, cultures, governments, that U.S. policy is in their best interests too? When in reality there seems to be great disagreement about whether the U.S. acts in it's own interests or does actually take into account other countries interests, too.
Promotional stategies, whether that is news reports, targeted mailings, television and print advertising, or special events, can't perform miracles. Hughes has a big task in changing perceptions if we don't also change some of the reality of our U.S. governemnt policy regarding how we treat prisoners, work with the United Nations, or gain support to deal with Iraq.
No matter what we do, there will be critics of U.S. policy, for sure. The Bush Administration will never convince 100% of the international critics. However, it seems this administration is particulary rigid in its diplomatic perspective, even with Condi Rice, at the helm. Flexibility is good for any relationship, even international ones.
What would you do if you were Karen Hughes?
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2 comments:
Sounds like an exercise in futility to me -- not to mention another way to waste taxpayers' money.
But if they're going to go ahead with it, Hughes should rethink her plan of recruiting American entertainment personalities to improve the U.S. image abroad. Surely she could find more suitable (and credible) resources than celebrities to do this.
The appointment of Karen Hughes to the position only serves to underline the ineptitude of the administration's diplomatic strategy: Like in so many other affairs, the administration appears to believe that a unilateral approach to improving perceptions of the United States abroad is the most effective policy.
It is true that the Bush administration will never convince 100 percent of the critics -- that holds true for any administration. But there is still a serious problem with the U.S. image, one that has only worsened under the current presidency. For example, figures have shown that even with the dollar being severely weakened against foreign currencies, tourism is still down in the country. A number of factors might contribute to this, including the increasing complications to the visa application process. However, the most telling perhaps is the fact the country is simply so disliked that even when it is dirt cheap for them to come here, foriegn tourists still will not do so.
Karen Hughes, who during the 2000 campaign worked wonders with Bush's image, will barely be scratching the surface of a much larger problem. Her appointment is an attempt to improve the U.S. image -- if by U.S. image we mean the perceptions of the administration on the domestic front.
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