Lets be honest, Muscatine is not a town I had ever heard of. Sitting on the banks of the Mississippi River in rural Iowa, it is a fairly sleepy town. Perhaps about the least likely place in the world to find a think tank dedicated to preaching the virtues of multilateralism to Americans. As one of our party remarked yesterday it is probably a great place to have a think tank, as there is not much else to do but think!

The Stanley Foundation is the legacy of C.Maxwell Stanley. Mr Stanley was a Muscatine native, a moderate Republican and a successful enginner who having spent time abroad, in Africa particularly, decided to devote some resources to supporting the notion that multilateralism is the way forward for US Foreign Policy. His son Richard is the Chair of the Foundation, and is still very much engaged, attending the roundtable held for our group yesterday.

The foundation’s task is not an easy one. Multilateralism is not the American way. The rugged individualism that characterises the stereotyped American psyche also pervades foreign policy. Why should American bow or compromise to anyone, let along the collective will of nations much its smaller? Certainly the Bush administration grabbed this notion and ran with it, neatly lining it up with its overarching doctrine of governing by Fear, with a capital F.

Yet here, and in other parts of the foreign policy community there is cautious optimisim that the Obama administration is embracing multilateralism, albeit cautiously. Multilateralism is of course the international embodiment of the the message of Hope that Obama so skillfully developed in the campaign. If we work together we can overcome all obstacles.

Obama’s positioning is now being regularly described as one of engagement. He is working hard, often quietly behind the scenes at developing the relationships he needs to solve problems that are beyond any individual country. As ever with Obama tone and symbol are important. He reversed Bush’s decision about a missile defence system in Europe just as the G20 is about to begin. We have heard he will deliver substantive and newsworthy messages in his UN General Assembly speech, including around climate change. The evolving administration position on climate change (on which I plan to blog more fully) is based around a recognition that progress is only possible in lock step with China, India and others.

There are of course concerns. Obama is still a politician playing in the toughest political league in the world. Domestic policy agendas and conerns about poll ratings mean he is moving slowly. If anyone (Iran, Russia etc) look like they will try to exploit the approach of engagement and compromise then pressure will come to bear to show some more teeth.

But in Muscatine there is optimism, and yes, hope, and that is not something they have felt for a long time.