Senior foreign policy advisers from the presidential campaigns of Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Mass., discussed strategies for improving America's standing abroad during a town hall discussion in Kay Spiritual Center Monday.
Richard Danzig, a senior foreign policy adviser to Obama's presidential campaign, said America could improve relations abroad.
"In my travels, I have observed a very strong personal resentment against America," he said.
John Lehman, a foreign and defense policy adviser to McCain's presidential campaign, said the United States encountered a surge of sympathy from other countries after Sept. 11.
"America displayed its power in the invasion of Iraq, but there were blunders and we lost the admiration of the other countries," he said. "We have to win that back."
Lee Feinstein, national security director for Clinton's presidential campaign, said America's reputation is important.
"It does matter how you're viewed ... that we have a reputation around the world, because we can't deal with those problems alone," he said.
Proactive work is one way to deal with the issue diplomatically and on the popular level, Lehman said.
"We have to articulate what it is we're doing with why we're doing it - we have to listen to what others are saying and calculate that in," Lehman said.
America needs to take responsibility for its actions, according to Danzig.
"But there is a possibility for the U.S. to regain a good image," he said.
Terrorism is an efficient weapon against democracies, Lehman said. He added that McCain has a wide view of national security and can speak to the world in a way other candidates may not be able to.
"It requires diplomacy and listening," Lehman said. "America has good faith and is committed toward finding solutions."
Danzig said Obama would decrease the number of weapons in the world.
"We need to rethink in a lot of ways what we do," he said.
Lehman said McCain would take strong actions quickly, particularly for education.
"You make U.S. policies with what's right for our values," Lehman said.
Clinton would stress the U.S. values but also give voice to others, Feinstein said.
"Our intelligence activities depend on people around the world ... we need a good reputation," Feinstein said.
Huda Aden, a Georgetown University alumnus, said he came to the event to learn about America's reputation abroad.
"I know the image of the United States deteriorated over the past seven years, and I wanted to know what experts had to say about this issue," Aden said.
Dan Patrick, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, said he didn't think the panelists had anything different to say.
"It was interesting, but they all echoed the same sentiment," Patrick said.
Jasmin Malekpour, a graduate student from Austria's Vienna University who is in AU's Washington Semester program, said she thought the panelists were not responsive to questions posed by the audience.
"I was surprised by how they avoided answering the questions and pushed their candidates' positions," she said.
Will Ferroggiaro, a graduate of the School of International Service, said he was glad WAMU hosted the event.
"I think that the future president has a long way to go because policy changes won't be sufficient - we also need symbolic moves," he said.
