Is Europe ready for life after Bush?

His departure will open the door for new transatlantic relations, but clearing away the damage he has done will be a huge task

As George Bush flaps helplessly across Europe like a lame duck with a broken wing, the eagerness on display for his departure from the international scene has not been met with an appreciation of the size and scope of the problems that have festered during his tenure. The Bush presidency has been an unmitigated disaster and it is understandable to hope that it ends as quickly as possible. Yet we must be prepared for the consequences of the last eight years and simply ushering Bush out the door will not wipe away all the damage no matter who is elected to succeed him.

I count no fewer than six multifaceted top tier issues that require urgent and sustained attention as Bush arrives in London today: Iraq and the broader Middle East; climate change and energy geo-politics; trade, debt, and systemic poverty; Afghanistan, Pakistan, and international terrorism; the rise of Asian powers China, Russia, and India; and, Iran and nuclear proliferation – and that list does not even include other pressing crises such as Darfur or Guantánamo. Yet before we can even begin to address these problems, the threshold challenge for the new administration will be to rejuvenate the transatlantic alliance.

The United States is weaker now than at any point since the end of the cold war and perhaps far longer than that. Suspicions about American power have grown both because it has been deployed recklessly and because its limits have been clearly exposed. America's traditional European allies have been in turn rebuked from abroad for a perceived lack of support or undermined at home because of it. A good deal of the responsibility for the current state of transatlantic relations can be traced to Washington, but that has also made it easier for the Europeans to say no to things they would rather not do. The United States is still the world's dominant military and economic power, but reasonable questions persist about whether any post-Bush American president can hope to lead the international community in the manner of his predecessors or whether that leadership is in fact desired.

The total failure of the Bush foreign policy has made one lesson abundantly clear; even a nation as powerful as the United States cannot accomplish its objectives in today's international environment without meaningful contributions from a broad set of allies. Another consequence of the Bush debacle is the task of securing that support is now vastly more difficult. The next president must rebuild the moral foundation of American international leadership and convince Europeans to join the United States in a true partnership as we work to address the challenges of the modern world. Some will be understandably reticent, others outright opposed. Yet the problems we face are so great that we no longer have the luxury of sitting on the sidelines in the hope that someone else will take care of our problems.