Rejuvenate Public Diplomacy! Bring Culture Back to the White House

The
many reports that have appeared on the failures of American public
diplomacy during the Bush years have stressed its limitations in the
area of information and educational programs. What some call the third pillar of public diplomacy -- cultural programs -- has, however, been little mentioned.

This is not surprising. As I pointed out, not very originally, in a long essay, "Arts Diplomacy: The Neglected Aspect of Cultural Diplomacy," and in a recent book review
on the arts and democracy, Americans are uneasy not only with federal
government support for the arts, but with the very notion of "culture"
(high culture with a "capital K") itself. Our Puritan roots -- and they
are still alive and well -- underscore that overcoming the
all-encompassing fear of predestined eternal damnation can be achieved
(but not with certitude, which makes us work even harder) through
"busy-ness" (business), not the "dangerously" hedonistic pursuit of
pleasure (See, of course, Max Weber).

When
we Americans do allow ourselves time for lassitude, we do so, as a
rule, in a very planned, business-like manner (or totally "drop out"
through drugs). Las Vegas, "sin city," is the best example of this
pleasureless, high-strung "fun-fun-fun," which has little to do with
the dolce far niente, a key -- frivolous "art for art's sake" types would say -- to savoring life in an aesthetic (meaningful?) way.

We
Americans are known worldwide for our power to "entertain" (and
Hollywood-style entertainment, it could be argued, is essentially about
biological "relaxation" -- comparable to a satisfying bowel movement or
"pigging-out" on junk food). Mindless blockbuster movies and vulgar pop "music" are among our most profitable exports.

Based
on my experience in the Foreign Service (and, needless to say, personal
biases), however, I have found that many foreigners, no matter what
social class or education, don't understand why our official diplomatic
missions show so little interest in presenting "serious" American
culture to them (and course "serious" depends on whom you're talking
with).

Non-Americans are aware that the U.S. does have splendid
orchestras, theaters, museums. (I don't want to suggest, mind you, that
America is without culture; I simply want to say that "culture" does
not play the central role in American life that it plays in other
countries in continental Europe, Asia, and parts of the Middle East. An
Italian government official said at a White House conference
that her country's Ministry of Culture was as important in Italy as is
the Petroleum Ministry in Saudi Arabia. What she said about the
Saudis/Italy could apply to the U.S. Let's face it: we'd rather have
oil than culture).

Foreigners
are struck by how little the world's most powerful nation does -- in an
"official" way -- to display its art to interested persons.
Interestingly but not surprisingly, when the USG does -- all too rarely
-- fund cultural activities overseas, it likes to call them "workshops."
That, of course, spares the State Department of being accused of
frivolity by Congresspersons claiming to represent the hard-working
taxpayer; artists are working, so everything's ok, no money
is being wasted. Another favorite Foggy Bottom "cultural" program, by
the way, is "arts management" -- and yes, that's very important business. Again, let's get 'em artists working -- i.e., producing as if in a corporation -- right.

During the past eight years, many abroad have considered America hostage to a crude & rude "cowboy president." Bush,
despite his Yale and Harvard "education," has been seen as uncivilized
(a word all too often used by critics of America, which is far too busy
reinventing itself to be "civilized"), not only because of his
barbaric, scorched-earth "shock and awe" policies (for which Americans
will pay a price for many years) but also, I would suggest, because of
the little respect he showed toward the fine arts (in Russia, there was
a rumor that Bush, in a St. Petersburg palace, stuck chewing gum
underneath the table at which he was sitting).

The
favorite form of relaxation for this preppy cheerleader reformed
alcoholic is physical rather than aesthetic. He loves exercise (of
course, nothing wrong with that), an activity also much favored by his
football-crazy Secretary of State (it was reported that a preferred topic of their discussions is sports -- as Americans were dying in Iraq?, some may ask).

Among
the many not-so-subliminal "W" messages to the homeland (let us hope
that word will disappear from the American language) was the following:
"I, your mission-accomplished commander in chief -- while engaging in
my 'free time' in communications with the Almighty -- work (and "work
out") too hard during the day to listen to music or read a book" (I
personally wonder if he's ever really read the Bible, one of the great
literary masterpieces). Say a "prayer" and in bed by 10 pm. No nonsense.

Under
Bush, the presidency was totally divorced from culture; how many
persons in the world associate "Dubya" with an exhibit or concert (or
an experimental artistic project on the Internet)? Very few, if any;
indeed one of Bush's "pleasures" was to show Saddam Hussein's handgun to White House visitors. In all fairness to the Bushes, First Lady Laura the Librarian showed an interest in books; and a picture of Bush that will always be remembered is his holding a book -- yes, Bush witha book!: The Pet Goat, in
front of students at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota,
Florida, on September 11, 2001, as flames ravaged the World Trade
Center in New York.

Given that Americans are reluctant to support their culture overseas -- Hey, why should we? We've got Hollywood doing that! Get real! We're in the middle of a hell of a recession! First things first!
-- it cannot be expected that public diplomacy will receive the funding
to significantly increase its cultural programs overseas under the new
administration (but then one never knows; miracles do happen).

Meanwhile, however, instead of waiting for
miracles, Americans with an appreciation for the arts -- and such
Americans, many of them, do exist -- should encourage the new
president, Barack Obama, to make the White House a more
culture-friendly place. As was the case during the Kennedy years, the
residence of our Chief Executive should be a venue for cultural
activities of all types, ranging from concerts to poetry readings, to
which foreigners (including, needless to say, visiting heads of state
and other official representatives, including in the field of culture)
would be invited.

Non-Americans
felt that the Kennedys were "one of them" because of the presidential
interest in the arts. No reason why the articulate Barack and his
elegant spouse cannot show the same interest in the enchanting sides of
life while they serve in the White House (and they do not necessarily
have to be culture-vultures to do so; after all Ian Fleming was one of
JFK's favorite authors).

Bringing culture to the White House would
do much to demonstrate to the world that Americans can, indeed, value
the arts -- in our own way. True, we'll never have a Ministry of
Culture (nor should we), but if our new president (a published author
who has a literary bent) takes the arts seriously (and I do not mean solemnly)
and shares this appreciation publicly with his fellow citizens and
other inhabitants of Mother Earth, it will help show our small planet
that the cowboy presidency is indeed over and that after eight
xenophobic years we Americans are again trying to connect with the rest
humankind -- a humankind defined, in many ways, by its greatest
cultural achievements, of infinite variety throughout the world.

And,
finally, how about starting off the new administration on the right
cultural footing, by having a poet (say the Library of Congress's Poet
Laureate, Kay Ryan, who has written about the "idle maunderings poets feed upon") read at the Obama inauguration, just as Robert Frost (ironically, something of a Puritan himself) did when John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency?