Once upon a time there was a norm in American politics, first articulated by Arthur Vandenberg: “Politics ends at the water’s edge”. That norm is well and truly gone, as events at the Munich Conference have demonstrated. “Politics ends at the water’s edge” did not just mean Americans agreed about foreign policy; it meant that when speaking abroad they spoke as Americans rather than as campaigners.
In a world of social media and 24 hour news an American political campaign speech in Munich will be instantly heard in Muncie. The voters’ ears in Muncie are the actual targets for the speech not those of the assembled dignitaries in Munich.
In the past I have warned Americans that the histories, views, and politics in other countries differ from ours. Context is important. “Right wing” and “left wing” don’t mean the same things in Hungary or Romania that they do here. We should be wary of seeing allies in foreign political figures who actually believe in and pursue very different things than we do despite being labelled the same way in their own countries that we are in ours.
I can see now that the same warning applies to foreign politicians. They shouldn’t see likely allies in American politicians who oppose the same American president they do. Their goals and objectives are likely very different from yours. Their context matters as much as yours does.
