George R. Packard
President, International University of Japan;
Director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, President, U.S.-Japan Foundation
George R. Packard was dean of SAIS from 1979 to 1993 and is now director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies as well as professor of East Asian studies at the school. He is also president of the International University of Japan. From 1965 to 1967, he was chief diplomatic correspondent for Newsweek. Prior to that, he served as special assistant to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer. In March of 1998, he was appointed president of the U.S.-Japan Foundation.
Packard Report - Mar. 2008
I learned today that an 82-year-old friend of mine - a widow, and a lifelong Republican - is traveling to Ohio to spend the next three days campaigning for: BARACK OBAMAt!! It is that kind of election year. Many surprises, and more to come.
This week George Will, the columnist who will inherit the late William Buckley's mantle as leading intellectual voice of the conservative movement in America, wrote favorably of Obama and criticized John McCain for his hypocrisy in dealing with lobbyists.
Norman Mineta, who along with Senator Daniel Inoue, is among the most prominent of Japanese - American leaders, came out in support of Obama this week. Mineta had been in President William Clinton's cabinet and was expected to support Hillary Clinton.
The mere fact that a black American senator is riding the crest of a wave of momentum among white Democratic males is extraordinary and suggests that eight years of George W. Bush has created a mood of profound change in America. Nowhere is that change more likely to emerge in an Obama presidency than in foreign policy matters.
Two key issues have already surfaced between the approaches of Obama and McCain. The first involves the war in Iraq, and the second involves meeting with hostile foreign leaders.
On Iraq, McCain has said that the US will stay in Iraq for 100 years if necessary. Obama favors pulling US troops out of the country starting four months after he takes over the White House. McCain is a Vietnam War hero, and his views on national security at this moment carry more weight that Obama's. He says that Obama's policy in this area would lead to "chaos." Obama must establish himself as ready for the job by pulling in tested military leaders to his camp. He is moving in that direction. Much will depend on how events on the ground in Iraq play out.
The sharpest and most interesting contrast is in their views of dealing with foreign leaders who hate America. Obama says he is ready to sit down with the President of Iran, or Raul Castro of Cuba, or Kim Jong-il of North Korea without pre-conditions.
Susan Rice, who was an Assistant Secretary of State in the Clinton years, is now a leading foreign policy advisor to Obama. She said yesterday, "Why the united States fears to negotiate or views direct discussions as a reward rather than an instrument to change behavior is a mystery to anyone who studies diplomacy. It is a patently failed approach, as the U.S. has demonstrated over the past eight years."
It is quite possible that a majority of Americans will agree with this position. In fact, the Bush policy of trying to avoid talks with the "Axis of Evil" nations is outside the mainstream of American foreign policy. Obama needs only to remind voters that Republicans have traditionally favored negotiations: President Eisenhower was willing to talk with Khrushchev during the Cold War, President Reagan talked with Gorbachev, and Nixon talked with Mao Tse-tung of China.
On Cuba, with the exception of a small, noisy minority of Cuban - American exiles in Florida, the vast majority of Americans would like to see an end to the boycott of the Castro regime, and a rapprochement with Cuba.
In short, Obama can and should play this card vigorously.
One interesting new development concerns the new interest by Iran in having Japan serve as an intermediary between the US and Iran on the nuclear weapons issue (as reported in today's Yomiuri Shimbun). This is not an idle gesture. Several leading American think tanks are intrigued with this idea and may push for quiet exploration of this possibility. They understand that Japan has credibility both in Teheran and Washington. Although Obama cannot show interest in this initiative unless and until he is president, it is the kind of feeler that might well get his support.
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