The Question: The U.S. starts to choose a president this week. If you could send the candidates one message, what would it be?

The record of the Bush administration must have shown that however powerful the U.S. may be, it cannot shape the world in its own image. Nor can it treat the rest of the world with the callousness and conceit displayed during these last few years. As the uncontested and uncontestable absolute supremacy of the West over the last few centuries is gradually waning, and as technologies empower the weak as well, a sense of equilibrium will be needed in world affairs. The U.S. may still be the most important country in the world and many things just cannot be done without its commitment, cooperation or consent. But neither can the United States accomplish its policy goals without taking into account the genuine and legitimate interests, perceptions and preferences of other parties. In other words, it can do nothing without earning their consent.

It would have to create the conditions for peaceful inclusion of rising powers into the world system. Managing the world order through leadership rather than dictating rules and codes of behavior and questioning the kind of globalization that the Americans preferred are the priorities of the new era. And of course a little dose of humility, even if it is just of the make-believe kind, would go a long way toward re-ingratiating the United States to the world public. You have got a lot of repair work to do. Good luck.