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Obama: Don't expect US to fix it all
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-23 22:38 NEW YORK: In a blunt challenge to his nation's critics, President Barack Obama says world leaders who once accused the United States of acting alone must now join with him to solve global crises rather than "wait for America" to lead.
It is Obama's first address to the UN General Assembly, and he is seeking to set a new tone in US relations -one that separates his administration from the unilateralism of his predecessor, George W. Bush, which alienated many nations.
In essence, Obama's message is that he expects plenty in return for reaching out. "We have sought in word and deed a new era of engagement with the world," Obama said, echoing the cooperative theme he promised as a candidate and has since used as a pillar of his foreign policy. "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility." He said if the world is honest with itself, it has fallen woefully short. "Extremists sowing terror in pockets of the world," Obama said. "Protracted conflicts that grind on and on. Genocide and mass atrocities. More and more nations with nuclear weapons. Melting ice caps and ravaged populations. Persistent poverty and pandemic disease." The president added, "I say this not to sow fear, but to state a fact: the magnitude of our challenges has yet to be met by the measure of our action." Obama's speech is the centerpiece of a day in which he was also holding pivotal meetings with the new Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Immersed in a packed agenda here, Obama foreshadowed his message to world leaders in a speech Tuesday to the Clinton Global Initiative. He spoke of nations interconnected by problems, whether a flu strain or an economic collapse or a drug trade that crosses borders. "Just as no nation can wall itself off from the world, no one nation - no matter how large, no matter how powerful - can meet these challenges alone," Obama said. While that point is hardly new, it is sharper because of the political context. Obama follows Bush, who at times questioned the UN's toughness and credibility, particularly in containing Iraq's Saddam Hussein. The US-UN relationship wilted. Obama's team is intent on drawing the contrast. |
