Another former Bush administration official explains how Bush has failed America.

The ways in which the Bush administration has been disastrous for America are myriad, but this post will focus on one--America's standing in the world. I have maintained that the Iraq war and the way that the Bush administration has handled that whole process--and others--has cost us our role as leader of the free world. Notice that I did not say "most powerful nation." I said "leader." Notice also that I did not say "ruler." Anyhoo, America has little credibility in the international community because of the Bush administration. I have been far from alone in expressing those views, and now another voice has joined the chorus.

His name is Price Floyd. Here are some excerpts from his professional bio:

Price Floyd joined the Center for New American Security (CNAS) as the Director of External Relations in March 2007. He brings more than 15 years of communications and diplomatic experience with the U.S. Department of State, most recently as the Director of Media Affairs. Mr. Floyd directed a staff of 10 in the development and implementation of media strategies to promote the foreign policy agenda – from elections in Afghanistan and Iraq, to the responses to the tsunami in Indonesia and the earthquake in Pakistan...Mr. Floyd began his career at the Department assisting the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs from 1990-1993. Mr. Floyd has received numerous awards for his service including the State Department’s Superior Honor Award for his work during the Bosnia War, Superior Honor Award for service during the Pakistan Earthquake Relief Effort, and the Service Medal from the United Nations and European Union for work in Montenegro as part of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia.

Floyd worked in the State Department during the Bush 41 administration, the Clinton administration, and most of the Bush 43 administration (he is listed in the State Department telephone directory dated 5/30/2007).

On May 25, 2007, Floyd had an editorial published by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

To turn a famous Hollywood movie quote on its head: What we don't have here is a failure to communicate.

Since 9-11, the State Department has undertaken an unprecedented effort to reach audiences both in the U.S. and overseas to explain our foreign policy objectives. My former office there arranged more than 6,500 interviews in the past six years, about half of those with international media. On any given day, senior department officials, including the secretary of state, were doing four or five interviews.

Yet during this time, poll after poll showed an alarming trajectory of increased animosity toward America and this administration in particular, both here and abroad.

This contradiction -- reaching a larger audience than ever before to explain our foreign policy goals and objectives, while the support for those policies fell -- underscores the gap between how our actions have been perceived and how we want them to be perceived.

We have eroded not only the good will of the post-9-11 days but also any residual appreciation from the countries we supported during the Cold War. This is due to several actions taken by the Bush administration, including pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol (environment), refusing to take part in the International Criminal Court (rule of law), and pulling out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (arms control). The prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib and the continuing controversy over the detainees in Guantanamo also sullied the image of America.

Collectively, these actions have sent an unequivocal message: The U.S. does not want to be a collaborative partner. That is the policy we have been "selling" through our actions, which speak the loudest of all.

As the director of media affairs at State, this is the conundrum that I faced every day. I tried through the traditional domestic media and, for the first time, through the pan-Arab TV and print media -- Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, Al Hayat -- to reach people in the U.S. and abroad and to convince them that we should not be judged by our actions, only our words.

I was not a newcomer to these issues. I had served at the State Department for more than 17 years, through the Persian Gulf War, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, numerous episodes of the Middle Eastern peace process and discussions in North Korea on its nuclear programs.

During each of these crises, we at least appeared to be working with others, even if we took actions with which others did not agree. We were talking to our enemies as well as our allies. Our actions and our words were in sync, we were transparent, our agenda was there for all to see, and our actions matched it.

This is not the case today. Much of our audience either doesn't listen or perceives our efforts to be meaningless U.S. propaganda.

We need a president who will enable the U.S. to return to its rightful place as the "beacon on a hill" -- a country that others want to emulate, not hate; a country that proves through words and deeds that it is free, not afraid.

We need to demonstrate that we are willing to help out our neighbors and to do what is necessary to ensure that our country and its citizens are safe.

We must do the real work of public diplomacy, not public relations. We need to greatly increase the number of people-to-people exchanges. We need to bring more officials from foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations to the United States -- not just to Washington but to Middle America, small-town America, even the inner cities of America.

We must re-create the American Libraries that we used to run and support in countries around the world. These centers gave thousands of people round the globe access to information that in most cases was not available in their countries.

Given where we stand in the eyes of the world, the results of these efforts will take years, possibly decades, to reap any positive benefits. But this change is vital to U.S. national security. It is also a moral obligation that we owe to the world.

(emphasis added). The only thing I have to add is a "thanks" to Laura Rozen, as I found out about this editorial through one of her posts.