Birth of a Wallflower

[T]he Bush administration prefers talking to nobody unless it finds somebody who thinks more or less the way it does. And folks like that are fewer and fewer.

--Christopher Dickey (Newsweek)

Mr. Dickey sums up succinctly a major theme of present U.S. (i.e., Bush's) foreign policy. He compares present-day America to a stalled semi, blocking traffic in the middle of the freeway: You can't ignore it, "but if you can squeeze by, you do, and a lot of the time you’re honking your horn."

Read today's news. Speaker Pelosi visits Syria. Syria is a major power in the Middle East, centrally located, and critical to the peace process. But Syria is naughty, according to this administration. VP Cheney appears all red-faced, hopping up and down, screaming, and generally throwing a tantrum because Pelosi is talking to Syria.

Or take Iran. Sure, it's a country led by an erratic president, with real power held by conservative mullahs. But it's a huge country, non-Arab, with a society that's far more Western, middle-class, and historically sympathetic to our values than that of Iraq.

Everyone in this country (not just Bush) is totally confused at what's going on politically behind the scenes in Iran. We desperately need to understand Iranians better, and to make personal contacts across their entire political and religious spectrum. But no way! Iran is part of Bush's "Axis of Evil." Official -- even informal -- contacts are out of the question. So we beg the Saudis -- a nation that, one day, you just know, will cause us problems -- to find out for us what's going on and to let us know all the gossip.

"Betty, I'm not talking to Heather. She's a brat! So pleaaaase ... do me a big favor and find out if Heather's still friends with Trisha, and if she's REALLY gonna go out with Justin, ok?"

Mr. Dickey is overly generous in comparing the U.S. to a stalled trucker. We are more like the spoiled little girl who turns up her nose at other kids who aren't "good enough" for her. Soon, she's talking only to a couple of hangers-on, non-threatening kids who don't have other friends.

The poor little rich girl inevitably ends up in tears; no one ever bothers inviting her to their parties anymore.

We may be reaching the point where other nations throw their own party in the Middle East, serving barrels of petroleum for refreshments, and absent-mindedly "forget" to invite the U.S. and its pathetic little shadow, the U.K.