Politicians and journalists don’t often make the most cordial of colleagues, but veteran international correspondent Christiane Amanpour and her husband, James P. Rubin, who was chief spokesman for the U.S. Department of State from 1997 to 2000, carried off a fine collaboration as this year’s Park Distinguished Visitors. In their lecture, “ and the World,” they used their complementary viewpoints to examine how the global standing of the has deteriorated under the Bush administration and what might be done to repair it. Correspondent Christiane Amanpour and politician James P. Rubin share their take on the USA in the world.  By Greg Ryan '08

Politicians and journalists don’t often make the most cordial of colleagues, but veteran international correspondent Christiane Amanpour and her husband, James P. Rubin, who was chief spokesman for the U.S. Department of State from 1997 to 2000, carried off a fine collaboration as this year’s Park Distinguished Visitors. In their lecture, “America and the World,” they used their complementary viewpoints to examine how the global standing of the United States has deteriorated under the Bush administration and what might be done to repair it.

Amanpour took the stage first. The journalist, who has reported from Iran, Afghanistan, and North Korea, talked about how people around the world look at this country. They want good relations with the United States, she says, but also want their sovereignty respected. “They don’t want [our policies] rammed down their throats and [to be] told, ‘You have to do it our way—or no way at all,’ ” Amanpour said.

Rubin discussed such sentiments from a policy perspective, detailing the consequences an anti-American populace can have on other countries’ relationships with the United States. “If people don’t respect the United States,” he said, “then governments are going to have a lot more trouble working with the United States.” Compromise is often necessary in diplomacy, and that, he said, is a concept the Bush administration has failed to understand in its international policies in Iraq and elsewhere.

The upcoming presidential election represents an excellent opportunity to reverse declining respect for the United States in the world, both Amanpour and Rubin stressed. Amanpour urged audience members to travel to other countries themselves, to help increase mutual understanding. “It makes a huge difference,” she said, “when people can meet you face to face.”