On return from the World Economic Forum, Latin America

I got back late last night from a two-day trip to the World Economic Forum in Cancun, and a chance to speak in a session with emerging leaders from throughout the Americas. The event itself was tremendous, featuring business, governmental and non-profit leaders from all across Latin America. Several heads of state and many other important governmental ministers participated in robust and interesting discussions on just about every issue from poverty reduction to sustainable growth, health reform, climate change, the rise of China, the disruptive power of new media, the challenge of rising food and commodity prices, the future of Latin America and the importance of Hugo Chavez to regional security concerns.

And I guess that is where I will begin with my first post of my impressions from the trip. The discussions were far-ranging, pragmatic and serious about the many challenges facing civil societies throughout the region. The talks and speeches by the heads of state and other governmental leaders showed a fluency in global economics and the upsides and downsides of globalization, and the need for strategic investment in infrastructure and human capital one rarely hears in the U.S. debate, and certainly we've seldom heard in this Presidential campaign. While there were disagreements, you can sense a true global consensus emerging about the need to maintain open trade, competitive democracies, domestic growth and flowing capital markets, reduce poverty and significantly increase investment in human capital and regional infrastructure projects and tackle climate change, all while coming to a much greater understanding that in this age of globalization and relative global peace, we are truly all in this together now; the region and the world are both growing more interdependent while at the same time offering nations many new tools to become independent and set their own course.

While the "Washington Consensus" and "neo-liberalism" were occassionally derided, it is clear that this vision of global development, effectively imagined and championed originally by the Clinton Administration in the 1990s, has become the governing consensus of much of the Americas.

What I guess is most striking from my trip is that this powerful vision, which has helped usher in an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity in the region, seems to be in the process of being abandoned by many leaders here at home this year. Reading the reports of the non-debate on ABC last night when I got home just reinforced how hard it is for America to talk honestly right now about the challenges we face, and what role we intend to play on the global stage in the era after Bush. Over at Daily Kos DHinMI has more triviality last night's debate.

Congratulations to the World Economic Forum for putting on an excellent and provocative conference about our common future.