Obama and Wen Jiabao

In Copenhagen, Denmark, this week, America meets its equal and opposite counterforce. Nobel laureates, climatologists, world thespians, shamans, pop stars and Al Gore will all be pushed aside, many of them never to be heard from again. And the stage will be left to two people, President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

This will not be about climate at all. It will be about who will rule, the U.S. or China.

Copenhagen furthers the one-world vision of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon and Clinton, the view that was reality then. It is regressive illusion today. This is about the U.S. and China, and apart from the few, the clever and the brave, like Germany’s Angela Merkel, the rest of the world is chorus. The group would find a better center in Seattle, Vancouver or Singapore.

In a historic cultural moment that so oddly resembles the late 1970s and early ’80s, the president might be advised to read Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, which was a runaway hit back then. Better yet, he might go to the source, the Tao te Ching: the “path of integrity.” Because our culture is a primary opposite of China’s.

We Americans assume that we were born to rule the world. It is as nature intended. It is our natural birthright; a mantle inherited from Victoria, our ancestral mother. Everything about us — even the election of a black president — speaks to the wonderfulness of it. Our symbols are overt, conspicuous and blaring: mile-high buildings, mile-high egos, mile-high stadiums and rhetoric.

China is quiet. The ancient masters were subtle, mysterious and profound, says the Tao te Ching. Watchful, like men crossing a winter storm. Alert, like men aware of danger. Courteous, like visiting guests. Yielding, like ice about to melt.

It has been a winning strategy since the Wu priesthood came up with it 6,000 years ago. Let’s see how it works this week in Copenhagen.

Visit Mr. Quigley's website at http://quigleyblog.blogspot.com.