When Public Figures Say Foolish Things

Many of those who have followed the state of verbal relations between the U.S. and Bolivia the past few weeks are shaking their heads at what seems to be a competition between U.S. Ambassador Phillip Goldberg and President Evo Morales over who can say the most foolish thing in public.

In this current round, the sparring began during President Morales' recent visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, with side visits to Comedy Central and meetings with U.S. labor and social justice groups. Ticked off over the strange re-routing of his flight from Kennedy airport to Newark and ongoing troubles getting his aides visas to set foot on U.S. soil, Evo raised the issue of whether the U.N. should remain in the U.S. According to Reuters, Morales told the General Assembly:

"I don't know how all of you managed to come here to the United States. At least my delegation had a great deal of visa problems. Some of us are practically threatened by the rulers of the country, by President Bush. Perhaps if that's the case, we should change the site of the United Nations. Perhaps we should do research on that."

This was hardly a verbal declaration of war against the U.S. The Presidents of Iran and Venezuela have that covered. More it seemed like a President letting off steam in public about questions of U.S. respect for its more impoverished neighbors. On the other hand, the comment did detract from Morales' otherwise successful efforts to leave behind the impression of a leader with good humor and sincere hopes.

Morales is many things, but a professional diplomat is not one of them.

Enter Ambassador Goldberg who is, presumably, a professional diplomat, with more than a decade of service in the U.S. State Department.

A wiser diplomat might have sought to smooth things over by publicly or privately offering to assist the Bolivian government to speed the entry visa process for Bolivian officials headed to the U.S. on official business (this has become a chronic problem for the Morales administration).

Mr. Goldberg, however, proved to be not so wise. He responded by declaring publicly, "I wouldn't be surprised if he [Morales] would also want to move Disneyland." This was not, to be precise, a helpful move in furthering Mr. Goldberg's responsibilities to maintain good diplomatic relations with his host government.

If this were Ambassador Goldberg's first demonstration of diplomatic tone deafness, it might be excused as the learning curve of a man in his first Ambassadorial post. Unfortunately this current flap follows, by just a few months, the Embassy's 'Ammogate' episode.

In June the young relative of the Embassy's military attaché, a U.S. Army Colonel, was detained at the La Paz airport with 500 rounds of 45-caliber ammunition in her suitcase. Despite the obvious Bolivian public relations disaster this created for the Embassy (and despite sentiments within the Embassy that the Colonel needed to either publicly apologize or go) Goldberg tried to paper the incident over as just an innocent mistake. Again, a wiser diplomat might have dealt with the issue differently.

The Los Angeles Times reports that, in the current 'Is Disneyland Next?' incident the Ambassador tried to pass off his comments as a poor attempt at humor. Writes a Times reporter, "Goldberg says he was just trying to introduce some levity, but the Bolivian government didn’t appreciate the joke."

If true, this would also not be the first time that Mr. Goldberg has demonstrated a certain diplomatic cluelessness at humor. I was present at a public talk by Mr. Goldberg in Cochabamba earlier this year in which he stunned many listeners with a joke about the violent lynching of an El Alto woman. After the attack the injured woman was evidently wrapped in a USAID food sack, which Mr. Goldberg said was not what he had in mind when he proposed greater visibility for USAID efforts in Bolivia – chuckle, chuckle.

Mr. Goldberg's predecessor, Ambassador David Greenlee, certainly had no love for the Morales government and spoke disparagingly of it in private, as does Mr. Goldberg. But he managed to keep a diplomat's professional touch on his public comments and handling of potential conflicts.

Mr. Goldberg might also wish to take some lessons from his Bolivian counterpart in Washington, Gustavo Guzman. With his long hair, rumpled clothes, and complete lack of diplomatic experience on his journalist's resume, Mr. Guzman has still managed to carve out very good relations in Washington, even when his government back in La Paz makes that difficult.

Which brings me back to Morales' latest round of verbal retaliation to Goldberg's comments. Never one to turn the other cheek to the U.S., Bolivia's President declared that the Ambassador was no longer welcome in the Presidential Palace. Then this weekend, according to Los Tiempos, he ratcheted up the rhetoric another ten notches by ending a speech in the Chapare with an old cocalero rallying cry in Quechua – "Causachun Coca, Wañuchun Yankees". By tradition the chant is cocalero shorthand for, "Grow coca and get the U.S. agents out." However, its literal translation is, "Grow coca, death to Yankees," not the kind of thing that a President ought to be saying in public.

Not all words out of Presidential mouths are necessarily literal. Morales is obviously not calling for gringo heads. Similarly, we can presume (hopefully) that President Bush did not mean literally, "Bring 'em on!" when he invited insurgents in Iraq to step up their fight against U.S. soldiers. Nevertheless, Presidents of nations, be they in Washington or La Paz, would probably be wise to take more care with the words they utter in public.

And to be clear as well, I say foolish things too, but I am neither an Ambassador nor a President. Thank goodness for us all.

There is a way to avoid this needless international friction – it is called the “in their shoes” approach.

The U.S. Embassy in La Paz might ponder what would happen if a young Bolivian woman on her way to the Embassy in Washington showed up at the Miami airport loaded for bear with 45 caliber rounds in her suitcase. My guess is that Homeland Security would not have winked her on by based on a simple, “Oopsie, Gustavo likes to skeet shoot.”

In the same fashion, the folks at the Presidential Palace in La Paz might consider their reaction to President Bush declaring before a crowd of Iowa framers, “Grow corn and kill the Bolivians!” Now this is speculation on my part, but I am guessing that it wouldn’t go over that well here.

Lastly, it is worth noting that some of Mr. Morales' best political good fortune has come in the form of foolish attacks against him by the U.S. Embassy. When another of Mr. Goldberg's predecessor's, Manuel Rocha, attacked Morales on the eve of the 2002 elections, threatening an end to U.S. aid of the coca leader was elected, it almost doubled Morales' voter support overnight and propelled him to within two percentage points of first place.

So, here's a better approach for Morales the next time Mr. Goldberg slips on a joke in public:

1. Publicly, tell the press that he must still be learning how to be an Ambassador.

2. Privately, send him flowers and a thank you note.

3. And drop "Wañuchun Yankees" from your speeches.

Oh, by the way, if they do decide to move the U.N. from New York, they might have a look at Sucre. It's a nice city with lovely climate and they are looking to expand.

Photo credit: Los Tiempos