There is a common hope that the next U.S. administration will improve this nation's standing in the world, if only because the last eight years have seen it decline to a degree unknown in modern times, the Los Angeles Times said in an editorial on Sunday.
"From the bottom, there's nowhere to go but up," the editorial stressed, adding that the next president must make the United States "a force for good again."
"By any measure, the Bush administration has plumbed new depths to discover how badly the United States can be regarded on the international stage," the editorial noted.
"It has ignored the United Nations, laughed off climate change and allowed anti-Americanism in Latin America to deepen and spread. It invaded Afghanistan for good reason, then allowed that conflict to spiral downward. It invaded Iraq under false pretenses and succeeded in antagonizing the Muslim world and clear-thinking people of all faiths."
The editorial said the U.S. chief mistake, however, has been its abdication of American values in the misguided attempt to project American power.
"Today, this nation possesses more military might than has ever been assembled under any flag, but Osama bin Laden wanders free, testament to the limits of force. That is a bitter reminder of what we all know intuitively: This country's true strength is not its force of arms but its ability to inspire and to lead."
The Bush administration has abandoned U.S. values in pursuit of strong-armed advantage, the editorial said.
Citing a BBC report, the editorial said confidence in the United States was sharply on the wane. Just 29 percent of those polled in 18 countries viewed the U.S. mainly as a force for good in the world.
"Clear majorities disapproved of U.S. policy toward Israel, Iraq, Iran and North Korea, as well as the prison at Guantanamo and the administration's stance on global warming," the editorial said.
"The next president must not only end our foreign misadventures but aver the power that Bush has amassed to wage them," said the editorial.
"Fervently we ask that the next administration lead us back to a position of honor in the world."
Source:Xinhua
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