Obama -- It's Time to Visit the UN

President Obama has just won a major victory to help solve America's financial mess -- the passage of the stimulus bill.

While the president is properly preoccupied these days by domestic matters, I hope that he may soon give some more direct attention to foreign affairs -- and I think that the best forum for that would be a major speech before the United Nations General Assembly sometime in the next few months. Obviously Obama today has the complete sympathy and admiration of the world, and, given this unparalleled global support, he could take full advantage of that wonderful spirit of comity with a visit to the planet's pre-eminent security organization. There would be an apt moment for him to remind the states of the globe that, under his presidency, we as a country are finally back to being the leading multilateralist nation on earth. Given the world-wide incipient depression, too, his doing this would also assure that the US will be better able to rally our friends behind a global-wide plan for economic recovery.

In addition, I think his appearance at the UN would be the appropriate occasion to publicize Obama's interest in nuclear disarmament. There have been some published reports about his desire to start talking with the Russians very soon about the task of cutting back on nuclear weapons, especially with the expiration of the START treaty looming at the end of 2009 and the UN's five-year Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review taking place in 2010 and the issue of submitting the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to the Senate for ratification still up in the air -- so this would also be a time to push forward on that agenda. In all, a trip to the UN would be a win-win achievement for the new president.

Comments

[mjc]

There was such great hope that the UN would be the salvation for a world full of individuals and governments whose primary reason for being was conquest and self-aggra­ndisement. Guerrilla organizations were not in charge of any particular region and the term was used then to invoke groups fighting to free themselves from corrupt and tyrannical governments and control. Today that term is almost synonymous with terrorists. Guerrilla movements, groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, have no representation at the UN and most stable governments like the US do not find much satisfaction in the rulings of the UN, its Security Council or in the General Assembly. US presidents began ignoring the UN quite some time ago, only appealing to it, as did all the other major powers, to publicize some issue for propaganda purposes. Bush, both of them, used the UN as a stage to play up various wars and totally ignored any reprimand from some of the agencies as interfering and unnecessary. Obama will find that world leaders view this country as using the UN as a way to manipulate world opinion. In the US there have been many who view the UN as anti-American. Obama has his work cut out for him to turn those concepts around to our advantage.

[Lemmy]

The UN is dependable for three things - scandal, corruption and spinelessness.

[MacQ]

Oh YES!!!
Maybe he could go there and pledge a percent of America's GNP to the UN to combat global poverty--a Global Poverty Tax paid by US citizens (a couple of thousand apiece-after all, we're flush, we're printing money, taxpayers wallets are officially open). Another 8 or 900 billion.
Oh, he's already done that.
I'm sure the UN thuggery will be very happy to receive him.

[eilish]

Do any of you people ever say "It is now time for Obama to get some well-deserved SLEEP??

[mimsnpips]

An excellent point. If he has time for a Super Bowl party with Repugs. he has to make time to officially introduce himself to the world. Though.. ..he has only been in office just under four weeks. Give him a couple more months but not much more.

[Mark Goulston, M.D. - Huffpost Blogger]

President Obama, why settle for being President when you can be King of the World!

I very much agree the time is ripe for President Obama to address the U.N. General Assembly and begin to speak about the elephant in the room. As Joe Biden recently stated: "American needs the world and the world needs America."

I think Obama should talk that to the UN and say definitively what he has said to Americans, i.e. "I (and America) need your help!" It is clear that America can no longer go it alone as the policing nation against all forces that threaten the world. All countries need to share in that responsibility. We are all interdependent.

Furthermore I think one of the reasons for the world's interest in Obama is that he may embody and express what the younger peoples of all nations feel, i.e. "that the Emperors may have clothes, but they do not really care about their constituen­cies...and are not above acting unethically and dishonestly to hold onto their power."

Obama represents the future that youth around the world are trying to embrace via a collective, inclusive, group "google" connectedness that is pushing to be heard through the desperate efforts of older "command and control" style politicians.

Youth in their teens and twenties are globally more ready to cooperate across borders and cultures, but the old guards around the world are like embittered old soldiers who refuse to die or fade away.

[bittertooth]

I do not see how he could be the King of the World. He would have to do it by force. The title does not lend itself to attraction so he would have to erase everyone's memory.

[Kiwuck]

Maybe when Will Smith plays Obama in the movie of his life, he can tell the President how they erased people's memories in "Men in Black"

[oxi]

America is 2 continents, please be more specific!

Iraq has nothing to do with policing the world, it has to do with cheap oil and Afghanistan has more to do about deploying NATO troops well out of their treaty bounds to build NATO bases to encircle Russia with and build a massive $7.5 billion TAPI oil pipeline to by-pass Russian influence.

Now that I can believe insteade of the lies about al qeada and Saddam, WMD's and fighting our friends the Taliban (from the 80's).

[PlaceboStudman]

I can't help but finding it amusing these days how misguided my support for Obama has been. While I still support him whole heartedly, even while disagreeing with him on many fronts, I never thought I'd be saying that he has impressed me more when it comes to international matters more than he has impressed me on domestic matters.

I am keenly interested in seeing how President Obama juggles world affairs, and how his dealing with world affairs affects his perception domestically

[bittertooth]

To: PlaceboStudman
From: Agent Splatter

Re: Your post

1. You are correct, Obama is a skilled leader.