The Presidency, Chained to the World

The US has plenty of problems at home, including high unemployment, a deteriorating infrastructure and a voter base polarized over basics like health care, financial regulation and energy needs. But pressing crises from all parts of the globe repeatedly demand attention and take priority. “[P]owerlessness in the face of economic free fall has emerged as a hallmark of the modern presidency,” writes Matt Bai for the New York Times. “Now we live in an integrated world where American jobs rely on the economic policies of governments in Asia or Latin America, while our security is subject to the whims of a cleric living in a cave.” Increasing interdependency, through trade and security, ties the hands of any nation and its leaders, and the US is no exception. The world is not ungovernable, Bai and other analysts conclude. But it does require leaders who recognize the forces of globalization and work on controlling them. – YaleGlobal