For a Strong America!

If there is one school of thought still alive and well in France, it is anti-Americanism. Having been more or less latent, France’s traditional anti-Americanism is now having a field day for the presidential elections. Although Barack Obama’s victory four years ago seemed to make it disappear, the grace period couldn’t last forever.

The phenomenon called “Obamamania” made the new president into an icon of an America that Europe could once again love. But, this year, the crisis leaving no other choice, Barack Obama has gone back to being just a human — a leader of a power that’s shaky, economically weakened and divided. Goodbye dreams and hello reality!

The reality of a world with increasing powers for emerging countries, geopolitical instability and an exceptionally serious financial crisis is changing the international order. America is the crisis’ first victim.

In October 2009, unemployment had risen to 10 percent of the working population, its highest since 1981. Since then, it has fallen to 8.2 percent, its lowest level since April 2009. If this upturn is to be credited to Barack Obama, we should examine the cost of the resources put in place. Can the reflation plan be deemed reasonable, if it costs $831 billion, for a country already in $16 trillion of debt, or 107 percent of its GDP?

In spite of this effort, the eulogists of public spending aren’t satisfied, including the very Keynesian Nobel Prize for Economics winner, Paul Krugman. Christina Romer, former chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, even wanted to increase the amount invested to $18 trillion.

Solution to the Crisis

Given the notion of responsibility, it is impossible for me to subscribe to negation, meaning unlimited spending within a context of limited resources. And if, “in politics, absurdity is not a handicap,” as Napoleon said, budgetary realities will always constitute dangers onto which poorly piloted vessels will crash.

Taking part in a foreign election from one’s home in Paris makes little sense, but I wish to warn against all caricatures of Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan. In France, we cannot understand these liberal Americans who are loyal to their values, as we can only judge them against the yardstick of our own European criteria.

Republican or Democrat, the next president should be someone capable of recreating the conditions of a prosperous economy, as we need a strong America. The U.S. alone represents 20 percent of the world’s GDP, and a third of global imports and exports. America is, outside of the EU, France’s best “client,” bringing in $22 billion in French exports. Euro-American exchanges also remain the driving force of the world economy at 610 billion euros, in addition to direct investments on both sides of the Atlantic (close to 1.3 trillion euros), and not to mention the 15 million people employed by European companies in America and by American companies in Europe.

It is only together that Americans and Europeans will find a solution to the crisis, because we are affected by the same problems: increased debt, weakened economy and social ties and poorly adapted political responses. The solution could be found in the creation of a real free-exchange zone between the EU and America, if not the entire NAFTA. This project would unite the best of what each party has to offer: American innovation coupled with the European states’ ability to offer their citizens a high quality of life and personal development — a subtle blend of American dynamism and European humanism.

We need the American ability to pull up the rest of the planet’s economies. Now it’s up to us Europeans to adapt in order to make the most of this new virtuous circle!