by Diane Wilson
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for the use of smart power, which she said included "the full range of tools at our disposal -- diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal, and cultural... With smart power, diplomacy will be the vanguard of foreign policy," as recorded by ABC News. Not surprisingly, foreign affairs is framed this way.
According to China View, Obama has "displayed his advocacy of the so-called 'smart diplomacy' ever since he took office in January. He has extended an olive branch to Cuba and Venezuela in Latin America, and softened tones on Iran and Syria."
Then there's smart grid investment, which is about to soar as a result of the stimus package. Intelligent grid technologies are projected to top $70 billion by 2013.
President Obama has ushered in a new tone of smart responsiblity, knowledge and language, and it is having an effect. Rapper Jim Jones told The Daily Beast that Obama inspired him to clean up the language of his music. Gone is the word "nigga." The word is now replaced with Obama, as in "Yo, did you see them Obamas last night?”or “Now that’s a real Obama.”
Talk about smart power. From rappers to corporate titans. Look at IBM's latest ads that ask us to buy into smart power Apparently, "smart work is transforming our organizations to take advantage of the capabilities of a smarter planet."
Smart is clearly the word that best defines our response to the urgent needs of 2009 and it is a more than gentle reminder of the dearth of smartness in the preceding eight. The Times reminds of a time when life was much less smart in a recitation of President Bush's top 20 gaffes. While it's nice to finally go in the right direction -- smart, that is -- Bush warms the heart with his downright nuttiness. Then we remember Iraq and all that is ugly about dumb politics, and we thank our lucky stars for the smart, new White House.
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