President Obama's Proverbial Reset Button

I assume most contributors here are in the U.S. and have little, if any, to ever venture beyond the national shores. I'm American, one who has lived in East Asia most of the past 24 years (22 years on the ground), in China, Macau, and Thailand. I still travel regionally fairly often. Here in Thailand, where I've lived the past 15 years, besides Thais, I interact with a great number of Westerners from places such as Britain, Australia, Sweden, etc. Late in Bush's second administration, I found myself defending him a *lot* to a grat many of those people, including my numerous Thai friends. Two common threads of their observations were (1.) a feeling that the U.S. government under Bush was way too arrogant and (2.) that the U.S. wasn't interessted in *dealing* with the world, but in *dominating* it, everyone else be damned. It was difficult to get them to understand that sometimes Bush had to make difficult decisions, ones in which he had no popular choices. Voted for him in 2000, then sat out 2004, scratching my head a bit. Had he been eligible to run again in 2008 and had chosen to do so . . . I likely would have voted for the opposing candidate -- *depending* on just who that candidate was. Now we come to after Obama assumed the Presidency. Here in Bangkok, there ware parties, including parties of Thais, and parties in the streets. And that was true elsewhere in East Asia, and, indeed, much of the world. Not that anyone hated McCain; how can you hate a man who had so much going for him, who has given so much for his country -- and who continues to give? (Deciding between him and Obama was the single most difficult decision I've ever made -- I could happily live with either. Or I believed so, when I cast my ballot.) And all this hoopla over the term "reset" is just that: hoopla; the "sound and fury that signifieth nothing." Apparently some people don't realize there are different uses of words in different what might be called "dialects." There's regular speech, like we use in our daily lives. Then there's "bureaucratese," and we all are painfully familiar with that. Then we have diplo-speak, beloved of the State Department and others. And there's "PR-speak." "Reset" works especially well in the last two. Washes well with foreign diplomats, and washes well as a PR sound bite. In fact, I'm more than a little surprised Mr. Tapper seems to have missed this, given his considerable skill as a wordsmith, and given that he's a White House correspondent. Anyway, in PR-speak, "reset" takes a vast, complex notion and reduces it down to an-easy-to-chew-and-digest word. I teach writing, and I'm a writer, and no, I'm not going to proofread this though I'm a bad typist, so there may be errors. But none incomprehensible. How about the novel idea of everyone -- *everyone* -- sitting back and taking a deep breath?

Obama bashers: I'm DELIGHTED with the PRESIDENT, so are A LOT of us. Sorry you're still gorging on those sour grapes; don't you ever get tired of them? I do wish some of YOU people had a reset button, though. No, I take that back - I think I'll just pull the plug on ya. Bye...

"in the agreement that will be signed today, Russia will allow the United States to transport its military personnel and equipment across Russia to support coalition forces in Afghanistan, further diversifying transportation routes for troops and equipment and saving the United States government up to $133 million annually in fuel, maintenance and other transportation costs.

"The U.S. and Russia will also establish a Joint Commission on POW/MIAs to account for personnel from World War II; the Korean War; the Vietnam War, and the Cold War, including Soviet military personnel unaccounted for in Afghanistan."

It sounds like some of his former supporters wish there really was a "reset" button.
Posted by: LongT | Jul 6, 2009 8:30:06 AM
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I hope there are lots of them!

Every time Biden and Obama open their mouths they make us, our country, look more and more like a new land with inexperienced leadership. It's embarrassing. Not to go into how dangerous this is - these are the same culture of people no matter how many times he wants to reboot the relationship. Not in the best interest for America's safety.

TYPICAL...Obama's team are a bunch of amateurs. It would be laughable if it were not so serious.

We should defer to the executive in matters of botched metaphors.

Seriously, I think it's a decent metaphor -- it leaves no doubt as to what is intended, and it sounds much less like diplomatic jargon than "re-normalize," which Firefox's spelling checker doesn't even think is a word without the hyphen.

Not like 'pushing the button' was the perfect metaphor to start.

sounds like some of his former supporters wish there really was a "reset" button.

Posted by: LongT | Jul 6, 2009 8:30:06 AM

I am one of them. I totally agree with your comments. I am sick of him.

"No matter how much you press the reset button, you're still dealing with the exact same hardware and some seriously outdated software."

Smart Power! Yes we can!

"peregruzka" meaning "overload"

I think Hillary got it right. I think the Obama administration is trying to overload domestic and foreign policies and concerns.

Their goals are clear (weak support for democracies and a wink and a nod to dictators) but their method is purposefully chaotic. "Peregruzka" is a perfect description.

"Perezagruzka"=Reset is a wishful and naive concept.

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." ~ Santayana

Good thing Hillary is nowhere to be seen. Was that really an "accident" that caused her arm to shatter?

It sounds like some of his former supporters wish there really was a "reset" button.