Who should push the reset button?

American Exceptionalism has run its course over the last century. It is time to hit the ‘reset’ button! The world has changed during the last three decades. There are other cultures and civilizations that have emerged on the global stage. These emerging powers want a bigger role in reorganizing the world. This does not mean the diminution of the American power or prestige, it simply means that other countries expect similar reciprocation and respect from the United States of America.

Seventy years back another US President had to push the ‘reset’ button but those were different times and that was no ordinary President. We are talking about the legendary Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States. The situation is as dire as it was during the Great Depression, only the then impending World War II is now replaced by the ‘War on Terror’. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill knew how to win the World War II, Barack Obama and Gordon Brown have no clue how to win the ‘War on Terror’! Do we really need to wait for four long years?

What exactly is this ‘reset’ button? It means that the world has to go back to the default position and renegotiate its way into a new world order. Just like in 1945 the League of Nations had to be replaced by the United Nations, now the UN itself has to be replaced by something else. America and China would fight hard to retain the defunct United Nations Security Council. Sooner or later the US dollar has to be replaced as a reserve currency by something else. America would fight tooth and nail to resist that! The entire global financial infrastructure has to be replaced by another Bretton Woods type system. US would fight that too. Who will push the ‘reset’ button?