Strategic Panorama 2009 - 2010 - IEEE

Florentino Portero Rodríguez
his electorate to be patient, as the gravity of the situation will prevent him
from honouring his promises of substantial improvements in social services
immediately, but that is his real goal. If achieved, it would inevitably
have consequences on citizens’ mentality. The United States would become
much more European than it is today and would experience problems
similar to those of the Old Continent in assuming responsibility on the
international scene. The «welfare state» is much more than a set of services;
it is a manner of understanding the role of the state in society and
of conceiving citizenship. Indeed, it is incompatible with the «pioneering
spirit», with flexibility and readiness to change...
This crisis is a major opportunity for the United States, a time to modernise
its industrial and business structure, to develop much further the role
of computing in all aspects of life. It is a time to carry out an in-depth
review of its energy strategy to prevent the future of its economy and its
wellbeing from falling into the hands of enemy, authoritarian or irresponsible
governments. It is also a time to establish a national strategy for a
new era, as occurred after the Second World War ended. On that occasion
the point of departure was a diagnosis of the situation, which led to the
definition of the Cold War followed by the definition of means and ends,
the «containment strategies» which were basically maintained for decades
until the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the communist
threat to Western Europe. The then president Harry S. Truman was harshly
criticised during his lifetime only to be hailed later on by society and historiography
as one of the great figures in American history. What needs to
be done now is establish a genuine strategy that is capable of surviving in
essence the coming and going of different administrations. Throughout his
mandate George W. Bush presented a set of documents which, together
with ideas expressed in public addresses, came to be called the «Bush
Doctrine». It remains to be seen to what extent this doctrine, highly criticised
by democrats, will be maintained during the Obama Administration
or if the advent of a new team will bring about a thorough redefinition of
the principles of the national strategy. President Obama’s key addresses,
over which he took great care in both content and presentation, display a
different style that is clearly at odds with that of his predecessor. But we
are still waiting for him to come up with the definition of a strategy in order
to be able to evaluate to what extent he has broken away from or merely
rectified that of his predecessor.
Just as the crisis is an opportunity to take a major leap forward, so too
can it be a chance to progress towards a new social model, characterised
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