Today, Vice President Joe Biden published an op-ed in the newspapers of Latin America's major countries -- the op-ed and the list of newspapers is after the jump. It's all part of the preparation for the Summit of the Americas, a major meeting of regional leaders in April. Biden arrived today in Chile to meet with Latin American leaders prior to the Summit, and he'll go to Costa Rica as well. No doubt folks will view this as an opportunity to read the tea leaves about the relationship between Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but this is probably just an easy division of turf, given the broad range of international problems in her portfolio. It does reinforce two developing notions about the administration's diplomatic strategy: One, they are very deliberate and prepared, with a number of steps taken to lay groundwork in the hopes of creating the atmosphere for serious meetings between high-level leaders; two, that the diplomatic message is often directed at citizens at large rather than government officials.
Unfortunately, though, the op-ed is a little too focused on domestic economic issues. I see what the administration is trying to do -- show what it is doing at home to help the international economy, and encourage other countries to follow suit with similar fiscal stimulus efforts in cooperative fashion. But leading with the U.S. stimulus might seem off-putting to foreign citizens. Much better are the areas where Biden talks about the relationship between the U.S. and Latin America more candidly, especially recognizing that dealing with international drug trafficking means taking responsibility for demand here at home and for the weapons that come out of the U.S. and into Latin America. But the op-ed, unsurprisingly, doesn't go far enough in looking at how counterproductive the "War on Drugs" has become. Also, referencing the Bush administration, even in relation to an initiative they began, seems like it will play poorly at best in the region. While the piece implicitly refers to trade issues, it doesn't take up directly the various controversies surrounding free trade agreements in the region, most likely because the administration has yet to settle on a coherent framework for addressing those kind of issues.
But the op-ed -- and the vice-presidential attention -- does indicate that the Obama team is giving more due to some of our closest, though oft-neglected, international neighbors, which can only be a good thing. Hopefully open dialogue at the Summit will lead to better policy choices across the board.
-- Tim Fernholz
