Saving from Lieutenant Bush

No matter who wins the presidential election in November, America's foreign policy will not seriously change
Another stage of primaries has taken place in the US; the pre-election meetings of the Democrat electorate have taken place in ten states. As could be expected, Senator John Kerry, who urges his followers to send George W. Bush "back to Texas", is a sure winner of the primaries.

According to the Gallup poll, majority of Americans now sympathize with John Kerry. At the same time, the gap between the Democrat candidate and George W. Bush is not really great. As opinion polls conducted within the past one and a half months reveal, the US president's rating is on a steady fall.

As for US's domestic problems, which are sure to be highlighted by opponents during the pre-election campaign, they are now of little importance for the whole of the world. Things happening in America's economy, social sphere and so on now concern Americans only. However, foreign policy of the country is a different thing. Indeed, success or failures of the US Administration in foreign policy do concern many people in other countries.
 
George W. Bush's foreign policy does not seriously differ from the line followed by his predecessors: other American presidents also sent US soldiers to different parts of the world for "establishing democracy". But none of the previous American presidents did it on such far-fetched pretexts that the incumbent American president has done.

Meanwhile, this does not mean that the aggressive foreign policy disagrees with the desires of the American society, its great part at least (this is what opinion polls say). According to a recent Gallup poll, an overwhelming majority of Americans is sure the US must play a key role in solution of problems that the world community is now facing. Let us not say that these problems often arise owing to Washington's policy.
 
Even though the present-day line of the White House agrees with the thesis on America's "key role", many Americans are still dissatisfied with it. 52 per cent of the American population disapproves of Washington's foreign policy and only 46 per cent support it. At the same time, Americans do not object to the global hegemony tendency; 51 per cent do not like the US's role in the world. Most Americans rather protest against the methods of goal attainment, the use of force that is so popular with the US president and the Administration.

Thus, a conclusion can be made that no matter who wins the presidential election in November, America's foreign policy will not seriously change. The idea of "the US's key role in solution of world problems" is a holy cow for Americans today. Neither Kerry nor Bush or any other president will dare encroach upon it. We only can expect other methods to be used for goal attainment.

In fact, no considerable changes will happen until the society welcomes these changes. The fact is proved with history. American historian Henry Steele Commager studied the reasons of the Vietnam war and said Americans were too ardent followers of the thesis on God, nature and history that commanded the US to always dominate on the planet. Much has changed since that time, however the thesis is still determinant for America's foreign line.