Can American leadership be restored?

Leadership to this administration seems to mean the willingness to exercise power and to stay on a course regardless of its consequences. Amb. Chas. W. Freeman, Jr., president of the Middle East Policy Council, argues that this form of leadership is ultimately useless because fewer and fewer will follow.

"The world now fears our savagery but has lost confidence in our fair-mindedness, judgment, and competence. What are the consequences of this and how can we overcome them?

....So, for example, Venezuela, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and key Africans are courting China; Europe is flirting with Asia; and all are seeking the affections of the oil and gas producers of the Middle East as well as of Russia and India. In most countries, politicians now see public spats with the United States as the easiest way to rally their people and enhance their prestige. The result is the progressive displacement of our previously indispensable influence and leadership in more and more areas of the world."