America must not retreat from the world

America must not retreat from the world Copyright by the Financial Times
Editorial Published: February 2 2006 02:00 | Last updated: February 2 2006 02:00

President George W. Bush's State of the Union address marks a fresh attempt to revive his beleaguered second term with a new style and tone of government. Humbler, more realistic and far more limited in its policy initiatives than his past addresses, it bore all the hallmarks of a weakened presidency. Yet it made one firm assertion that his nation would be well advised to heed: that the US must stay engaged with the world and not retreat into isolationism.

Snap polls suggest the speech was well received. But State of the Union addresses rarely have any lasting impact on a president's popularity. According to a recent Gallup poll, 54 per cent of Americans disapprove of the way their president is doing his job, 62 per cent are dissatisfied with the state of the country, while 59 per cent feel their economic prospects are only fair or poor. Such polls enfeeble the White House, particularly at home.

Missing from the speech was any sense that Mr Bush has a second-term agenda beyond sustaining the big gambles already made, above all in Iraq. Entitlement reform is to be handed over to a bipartisan commission; tax reform was not mentioned at all. Mr Bush courageously stuck with his plan for a guest worker scheme but mentioned it only in passing. So much for the notion that this would be as consequential a presidency domestically as it has been in international affairs.

Once again Mr Bush failed to ask his fellow citizens to make any sacrifices, beyond the painful sacrifices being made daily on their behalf by military families. He remains the guns and butter president, calling his nation to duty while urging permanent tax cuts. His striking admission that the US is "addicted to oil" came with a prescription - new technology - that again suggested hard choices can be avoided.

Even so, the address in some respects points in the right direction. The shrinking of Mr Bush's ambitions creates the opportunity for a more bipartisan administration. The president was correct to say the war on terror will require a generational commitment from both parties; it is tragic that he has done so little to build one.

Moreover, Mr Bush is right on one fundamental issue. Now is no time for the US to retreat into political and economic isolationism. According to Pew Research, isolationist sentiment in the US is higher than it has been for four decades. The president's own misadventures are substantially to blame. But in an interconnected world, isolationism will never bring security. And the only way to preserve US economic leadership in the face of a rising China is to keep US markets open and exposed to global competition, while investing in skills and technology.

The challenge for Mr Bush's critics is to find a way of denouncing his mistakes while firmly rejecting the isolationist lure. It is a yardstick by which each of the Democratic presidential hopefuls should be measured.