An International Hadleyville

Victor David Hanson, in the latest issue of the National Review Online, addresses the idea of President Bush as a cowboy and the recent claims by Time Magazine that his "cowboy diplomacy" days are over. In "How Now, Cowboy?", Hanson discusses the traditional role of the cowboy (created largely by Hollywood). In almost every sense, the cowboy is always a loner, fighting for his own traditional code of honor, much like knights or samurai--alot of societies tend to have their own hero stereotypes like that.

Since 9/11, much of Bush's foreign policy has consisted of this loner, cowboy attitude. That's not say that it's necessarily a bad thing; I think it's high time America stood up for itself and presented our detractors with a clear choice: are you with us or not? Of course, I was as saddened as most conservatives when I heard Bush admit that his 'wanted dead or alive' lingo was off-base. I was proud of the fact that the man didn't pull his punches--it was very Reagan-esque. But at the present, President Bush has seemed to calm down a bit, taking the road of diplomacy and multi-lateralism. These aren't bad things by any means (every situation calls for different tactics), and Hanson seems to allude that before it's all said and done, he may very well dispatch of a few more "bad guys" before riding off into the sunset. Each President seems to have his own style of dealing with the foreign powers, whether it's just appeasing them so that they go away, or standing up to them and rallying the world behind the cause. Bush knows what he has to do, and is more than willing to include those who understand what's at stake.

Europe, Hanson writes, prefers their American leaders a little differently. "Their preferred American leader is a metrosexual John Kerry or Al Gore who wears tasteful earth tones, dribbles effusive praise of the U.N., and speaks at Davos of coalition building, Kyoto, and consultation with the EU." I couldn't have put it better myself.

While Hanson writes of many Western movies that are similar to the situation the POTUS is currently in, his best example is taken right from "High Noon." In "High Noon," Marshall Kane (played by Gary Cooper) is left to defend a town that doesn't want him there. Kane, instead of going on a honeymoon with his wife, stays back to fight the returning villain (who was just released from prison and took the first train back). Everyone thinks he's crazy for staying; the townspeople tell him to run; no one is on his side. No one else sees the threat of the returning murderer. "The truth is that we live in a global Hadleyville suffering from the delusion that international communications, cellphones, and the Internet...equate to civilization. In fact, they are only a thin and flashy veneer atop a wild and savage world where outlaw regimes like North Korea, Saddam's Iraq, and Iran push until pushed back."

While the many of Americans, and the world, sit back and see Bush as the loner who is out there fighting a foe that doesn't exist, they are acting as the people of Hadleyville. Bush may not have a large posse backing him up, but that doesn't mean the fight isn't worth fighting.