Opinion Lead from behind,Mr President

Discreet does not mean desultory. The United States took out Libya’s air defense system. It provided more than 70 per cent of the surveillance,intelligence and reconnaissance capabilities. It flew 70 per cent of refueling missions. What it did not do was wade into Libya with the army it had in the vanguard of a motley coalition of the willing.

But of course “leading from behind” was too good a phrase for Republican hopefuls to pass up,whatever the damage done to America under a Republican presidency that lined up behind recklessness. Mitt Romney has latched onto the phrase as if it was his passport to the White House,attacking Obama for “leading from behind” on the Arab Spring and declaring: “God did not create this country to be a nation of followers. America must lead the world,or someone else will.” Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry have joined the chorus; even yesterday’s candidate,John McCain,could not resist.

All of which has gotten the White House worried enough for there to be questioning of the original New Yorker quote,statements from Obama like “We lead from the front” — and rapid responses from his NATO ambassador insisting on US leadership.

I say they shouldn’t have blinked before the Republican onslaught.

If leading from behind brings the success of the Libyan intervention,and refusal to be “a nation of followers” brings you Iraq and Afghanistan,the choice seems clear enough. Lead me from behind,Mr President.

The Republicans seem to think all Americans want this nation back at the pinnacle of its power,in the midst of an American century,so overwhelmingly “No. 1” that it can speak and others will follow,so inspiring in wealth and might that it has all humanity in its thrall.

The little hitch with these clarion calls is that they ignore the facts. Iraq and Afghanistan have exacted a toll on America — in lives,treasure and standing — that it will take a generation to work through. Globalisation and IT are sucking away jobs; the jobs that remain demand levels of education that the country is doing a poor job providing. Debt,national and personal,hangs like a giant cloud over the United States. The country is beset by paralyzing political division. Growing inequality has trampled on fairness to the point that Americans are taking to the streets. Right now America is neither morally compelling nor materially convincing.

In these circumstances it’s sensible to husband resources,use the burden-sharing of military alliances to the full,take out terrorists one by one rather than go to war against them,and act in concert with like-minded nations where possible — which is what I take “leading from behind” to mean. It’s a doctrine for a changed world. The Libyan intervention was a conspicuous example of its capacity for good.

None of this means that I accept the inevitability of American decline. On the contrary,I am a strong believer in America’s unique gift for reinvention and regeneration. The American century is over and not coming back — this could be nobody’s century,as befits a globalised world — but that does not make American power any less critical. It just has to be exercised in ways consistent with the facts,as it was in Libya.

Where Obama has failed to lead — from in front,atop,behind or anywhere — is on the domestic front,where America’s regeneration capacity has stalled. Great presidents lift the national mood. They are in sync with,and can summon,the American spirit. FDR and Reagan and Clinton had this quality. Obama has not discovered it,which is why next year’s election is no shoo-in. Roger Cohen