Of the many lost opportunities of the last 6 years (and there have been a great many) one of the biggest is the Bush Administration’s decision to blow off the rest of the world. In the wake of 9/11 the US was in a unique position not seen since the end of the cold war to truly unite much of the world in a single cause. Bush could have reached out to Europe, to Asia even the Middle East and forged long lasting relationships. Bonds of cooperation and real trust.

Indeed during those first few months much was accomplished thru cooperative efforts. Al-Qaeda and other terror organization’s money networks were closed up. Dozens of true terrorists were tracked down and captured. Afghanistan was liberated from the Taliban (and while the US took a leadership role the effort of NATO and other nations troops made and are continuing to make should not be understated). Afghanistan, unlike Iraq, was and remains a true coalition effort.

But that turned out to be window dressing. Bush et al reverted to form and started an unnecessary war with Iraq on the basis of what turned out to be inaccurate and exaggerated evidence, crushing US credibility. The blatant disregard for even the trappings of international law when it came to our treatment of POWs and captured terrorists. Bypassing local governments, even in allied countries, to kidnap terror suspects. The scrapping the State Department’s cultural outreach programs. The incompetent handling of Katrina reducing the US Gulf States to the status of a third world nation. Open hostility, at the highest levels, to long time allies in Europe for daring to disagree with Bush’s proclamations. Bullying rather than negotiating.

Now many governments are withholding or cutting back their cooperation in the war on terror. Sympathy and cooperation have been replaced by suspicion, fear and anger.

All the good will built-up after 9/11 has evaporated.

And other nations are reaping the reward. China is making great strides in Southeast Asia securing economic and security treaties. The various governments would, in many ways, prefer to deal with the US and have been screaming for the US to notice them but the Bush administration’s entire focus is on Iraq. The same can be seen in South America where both China and Russia are making friends (and not just in Venezuela).

Our blatant disregard for the rest of the world is pushing nations that should be our natural allies into the arms of China and Russia who are more than willing to fill the void left by an absent and/or hostile US ‘diplomacy.’

Even worse than all of that is the erosion of the belief in our ideals of democracy, open society, and the rule of law. As Greenwald correctly points out, this flies in the face of everything Bush claims to be promoting. The failure of elections in Iraq and the Palestinian territories (heavily pushed by Bush) to bring about any real improvement in people’s lives and that have, in many ways, made things worse. The failure to support Lebanon’s elected government. All of that tells people that democracy doesn’t work.

Across the globe efforts to create more open societies and democratic governments ruled by law are failing or being abandoned. Russia is retreating into authoritative government, Lebanon’s falling apart, the former Soviet republics are alternating between running back to Russia or fighting Moscow to keep what they’ve got. Venezuela has Chavez. Southeast Asian nations are choosing to follow China’s model rather than open their political processes.

And I don’t even need to explain what is happening right here at home.

People are rejecting our base values and Bush is doing nothing to stop this trend and is in fact hastening it along.

From the President who after 9/11 looked at an America united and ready to make real sacrifices and said “go out to dinner.”

That was the great call to service after 9/11 from our Commander in Chief. “Spend Money. Shop more.”

It’s not as if the Big Three can say they didn’t see this coming or have never experienced this before. This is exactly like the late 70s and early 80s when Japan began its takeover of the American market. The big three were stuck with outdated, oversized designs and Japan stepped up with cars that consumers wanted.

The problem is NOT COSTS. It’s the Big Threes utter inability to adapt to the marketplace. Their ability to innovate in the car market is non-existent. The idea of hybrid and electric cars has been around for decades. But rather than invest in design and production capability to meet that future demand the big three each chose to ignore that market while Toyota made those investments and is now reaping the reward (as did Honda and other foreign auto builders who were far faster at introducing competing vehicles than any of the Big Three).

The same can be said of fuel efficient cars. While Detroit fights CAFÉ standards tooth and nail Japan and Korea embrace it as a challenge and actually BUILD fuel efficient cars and trucks that meet or exceed proposed standards before they become law. Proving it can be done which makes Detroit’s cries of ‘hardship’ look silly. Again, it’s not like this wasn’t a foreseen crisis and the Big Three couldn’t have shifted its design and manufacturing investments towards this market. They CHOSE not too.

And complaining about other countries barriers to entry sounds a little hollow when the truck market (the only market the Big Three truly compete in these days) is protected by high tariffs.

Add to all that to the fact that virtually all of the vehicles Toyota and Honda sell in North America are MADE in North America and one can paint a very damning view of the Big Threes (increasingly small threes) management over the past twenty odd years..