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Barack Obama's performance on foreign policy issues in Thursday's CNN debate, his victory in the Americans Abroad primary also announced this week, and the intense global interest in his campaign, highlight his potential as a global leader at this critical juncture for America and the world. Obama's vision for the future direction of American foreign policy came through strongly in his response to the opening question of the debate, on whether the candidates as president would talk directly with the new Cuban leadership now that Fidel Castro has stepped down. In her response Clinton simply reiterated American policy of the past fifty years, insisting that Cuba must first jump through certain hoops before any direct presidential talks would be granted, as she has also insisted with regard to Iran and Syria. As expected, Obama's response was quite different, repeating his conviction that America must talk to its adversaries as well as its allies. "Precisely because the Bush administration has done so much damage to American foreign relations...," Obama argued, "...the president [must] take a more active role in diplomacy than might have been true 20 or 30 years ago," suggesting that he would take a far more direct presidential role in diplomacy than Clinton might be willing to offer. "If we think that meeting with the president is a privilege that has to be earned...," Obama further argued, "...I think that reinforces the sense that we stand above the rest of the world at this point in time," to me a welcome observation given the high-and-mighty attitude that America has projected to the rest of the world in recent years. "I think that it's important for us in undoing the damage that has been done over the last seven years...," Obama concluded on this topic, "...for the president to be willing to take that extra step.... That is the kind of step that I would like to take as president of the United States."
Obama's willingness to take bold new steps in American foreign policy, and his own international background, have made him an attractive candidate to many of our global neighbors as well as to Americans living overseas. This week's win for Obama in the Americans Abroad primary, representing American diplomats, aid workers, teachers, and other US citizens living and working around the world, indicates that by a wide margin American expatriates prefer Obama. Having myself spent extended periods living, working, and traveling abroad, I can attest to the deepened sensitivity such an experience provides with respect to global concerns, to America's image around the world, and to how our global neighbors feel about our considerable influence on their lives. I can only assume that it is this deepened sensitivity to global concerns which led 65% of Americans Abroad to go with Obama in what was announced this week as his 11th straight primary win since Super Tuesday. From my own contact with overseas friends as well from the international media it is apparent also that the Obama campaign has sparked intense interest and support among the citizens of other countries around the world. This was apparent on Bush's recent visit to Africa, when Bush himself was upstaged by enthusiasm for Obama. This enthusiasm is not limited to Africa: Observers in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere have also welcomed the prospect of an Obama presidency as potentially the beginning of a new era in America's relations with the rest of the world. Obama's opposition to authorizing the war in Iraq, as well as his opposition to confrontation with Iran, have set him apart from Clinton in the eyes of many who would like to see a less pugnacious, more cooperative American posture on the world stage. I for one wholeheartedly agree: Obama is a world-class leader for the 21st century.
Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com
