“Kennedy lived in Europe, then the geo-strategic center of the world, as a footloose young man who had front-row seats at momentous diplomatic dramas, thanks to his ambassador father. Obama lived as a boy in Indonesia—a big, fascinating country, but not central to U.S. global strategy. If that childhood experience had a genuine impact beyond teaching him the obvious truth that the world is diverse, then he needs to make it clearer how he will translate that knowledge into sound policy.”

The “obvious truth” that the world is diverse seems to have been lost on George W. Bush when he entered office. Also, it is one thing to be able to mouth that platitude, but another to truly understand that, and its implications. Many know it intellectually, but can not truly see the world except through their unquestioned cultural assumptions.

I feel that this dismissive approach to Obama’s overseas experience perhaps betrays a lack of understanding of the value of someone who hasn’t just visited a place, but has had to truly lived there at street level. Obama is no JFK. His background is different, but perhaps more valuable than a JFK-like life would be in this 21st century. We are in a situation where motivations of enemies are often not geopolitical calculus but rooted in cultural convictions. We are in a U.S. that is multicultural. We are in a world that is interconnected.

I am not taking anything away from JFK, so much as pointing out that the value of living in a culture far from your own (and a nexus of Southeast Asian and Muslim culture I might add that is as vital to understanding for the sake of our national interest now as Europe was then). As many who go to a foreign land, live in the “American Enclave” and attend the “International School” can attest, you can live somewhere and be completely insulated from the hard realities of it.

The practical translation: his street-level experiences in the developing world will allow him to understand the limits of hard power and the benefits of soft power as the U.S. finds its place in the new century. I am sure that, for example, Obama would not make the mistake of believing that such a culture would welcome an alien power’s hegemony with flowers.

Ted Sorenson is mentioned in the article quoted. I assume he’s supporting Obama because he likes him. Widner offers a differing opinion. Which both men are entitiled to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReDCmk2c2g8

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/12/wobama112.xml