The fast transition

One day after, Obama’s aides continued their work, picking up the first nominees of his Cabinet. The democratic transition, lasting from November 4 to January 20 2009, is involving various aspects, from the details of resettlement of the presidential family to Washington D.C., to the enormous time pressure to be ready to assume full responsibilities as soon as possible.
The two big important questions are who would lead the foreign policy and the defence?

The international reactions following Obama’s victory varied from warm to polite and most part of the messages stressed the need for a change in the way of addressing America’s foreign presence in the world.
Bush successive administrations put in practice various programs of public diplomacy, none of them fully successful, because being permanently counter-weighted by an often contradictory political positioning in foreign affairs. The Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Karen Hughes, started her job in 2005 with, at least in words, a very promising mandate. But, public diplomacy is only part of the overall representation of the system of values of a country. Its aim is to find the most appropriate language in order to make your messages understood by the addressed audience. Cynthia Schneider, Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, made recently a very interesting evaluation of the current image deficit of America across the world and of what have to be done by the future administration in this respect. In a lecture delivered at the Center for International and Regional Studies, Schneider stressed the need for a “re-examination” of the way in which US is representing its values in the world. Closing Guantanamo Bay – a decision considered necessary also by five former US Secretaries of State, from both Republican and Democratic administrations it's one step, quite important in the process of restoring the image of United States abroad, but which might be followed by a comprehensive approach of the mutual understanding and respect.