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's pretty obvious they're all mouth and no money. So what're y'gonna do, B.O.?
It is Obama's first address to the U.N. General Assembly, and he is seeking to set a new tone in U.S. relations -- one that separates his administration from the unilateralism of his predecessor, George W. Bush, which alienated many nations.
Bush set out to build a "coalition" in the wake of 9-11 and discovered an Axis of Weasels. B.O. wasn't paying attention.
He paid attention, he just agreed with the weasels that time ...
"Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," Obama said in White House excerpts of the address that carried a remarkably blunt tone.
Sure they can. Just watch.
In essence, Obama's message is that he expects plenty in return for reaching out.
My prediction: He will receive squat.
"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."
Rather than just us...
He said if the world is honest with itself, it has fallen woefully short.
One thing the great wide world ain't is honest with itself...
"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."
On the other hand: the extremists are able to sow terror in pockets of the world because the civilized world has become over-civilized. Otherwise the bad guyz would be wiped out and their breeding grounds would be sown with salt. Protracted conflicts grind on and on for the same reasons: we're simply too nice to kill the people responsible. It takes not only a trained eye but a strong belief to notice that the ice caps are melting, and the populations that are ravaged are ravaged by their own seedy politicians, rather than by pandemic disease and starvation. There are no plagues wiping out a half or even two thirds of continental populations and poverty has become a treatable condition even in some places with hereditary presidencies.
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."
The magnitude of our challenges is nothing compared to the challenges that faced our grandparents. The biggest challenge we face is keeping the politicians out of a boodle that's swollen to a size greater than ever seen.