Instead of 'selling' its policies, America should change them

The United States has had arguably three of the nation's ablest communications gurus heading up the State Department's public diplomacy efforts over the past six years — Charlotte Beers, Margaret Tutwiler and, most recently, Karen Hughes. Yet all three failed because they were trying to fix a public diplomacy problem with public-relations solutions.

Hughes came in as the game changer in 2005. President Bush had put his most trusted communications expert in charge of improving the United States' image overseas. What set her apart from her predecessors was her relationship with the president: She could call him up and make things happen and was seen as directly representing the president.

Early in her term, while visiting the Gaza Strip, Hughes was able to react instantly to a request by a delegation of Palestinians for a meeting with the president and receive immediate presidential approval. Finally, we had the right person for the right job, or so we thought. Last month she announced her resignation, with American standing at an all-time low in the Muslim world and elsewhere.

The problem was that Hughes and the others were trying to sell a product — in this case, a foreign policy, instead of promoting American values. They each tried a variation of, "If we just explained our policies in a manner they could hear, then they would understand." People in other countries have understood all too well what this administration's policies are. They simply don't agree with them.

Public diplomacy is more about influencing foreign publics and broadening dialogue between American citizens and institutions and their counterparts abroad than it is about "selling" a particular policy.

The president has a final chance to change course on the public diplomacy front. First, Bush must replace Hughes with someone who has been a critic of the administration's past policies. This person should be in the vein of Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, a respected, nonpolitical public servant whose credibility is further strengthened by his nuanced disagreements with past policies. Such a person would signal a change in the way the administration appeals to the rest of the world.

Second, Congress must play its part. There should be a rigorous confirmation process. Only two senators were in attendance for Hughes' confirmation testimony.

What we need is a dramatic shift in how Washington explains to the world why America can still be "the beacon on a hill." Without effective public diplomacy, our nation is weakened, because we are not able to push our policies with foreign governments when the United States is deemed the problem.