Obama’s Speeches Before the UN: A New Direction for US Foreign Policy?
21 Sep
‘The unrelenting global troubles confronting Barack Obama are about to converge on him all at once, providing a stern test of leadership for a first-year president who has pledged to “change the world.’”
-Ben Feller, Associated Press
President Obama will finally take a break from healthcare this week to look at Israel and Palestine, global warming the world economy, nuclear non-proliferation and everything in between. Who says Presidents don’t know how to have fun? His speeches before the UN on tuesday, wednesday and thursday could mark the beginning of a hopetastic new era in US Foreign policy, or they could be standard diplomatic boilerplate. Join us on Wednesday, September 23 at 7:30 pm in SMG 304 to discuss Obama’s speeches to the United Nations
Background
President Obama kicks off the week on Tuesday with a speech before Ban Ki Moon’s summit on climate change. He then follows that up with a lunch with African heads of State, a bilateral get together with Hu Jintao of China and wraps up the day with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. After trying to remake the world in Al Gore’s image and get the Israelis and the Palestinians to set aside their differences (protip: it’s not very likely), Obama will wake up Wednesday refreshed and ready to speak to the General Assembly. Once he finishes his speech, having properly ushered in a new era of international cooperation, Obama will go on to meet with the Japanese and Russian heads of state, while still saving enough energy to breath new life into UN peacekeeping operations. Though the IAA meets on Wednesday night, Obama inconsiderately plans to spend thursday chairing a UN Security Council Session on Nuclear non-proliferation (which no President has ever done before) and then jetting out to Pittsburgh for a G-20 summit on the economy. Yeah, you thought your week was busy.
Make sure you tune in Tuesday and Wednesday to the UN webcast between 9 and 10 am to catch Obama’s speeches live. If you can’t miss the speeches, or if you’re still sleeping at 9 am because you’re not the president and you don’t have to wake up early to solve all the world’s problems, never fear, the BU IAA has you covered. We’ll open the meeting with a recap of the important bits of Obama’s speeches, and a brief overview of the reaction to it. However if you want to impress your friends by whipping out quotes that we didn’t show you, go ahead and watch it live, or watch the un-ending coverage of it on the cable news networks while reading up on it on the intertubes. It promises to be a substantial departure from the Bush years, and for that reason alone, it’s worth talking about. Unfortunately we can’t see into the future, so we’ll have to make do with just Tuesdays and Wednesday’s happenings, but at least your life is less chaotic than the President’s.
Questions to consider
1.Is Obama biting off more than he can chew? can he reasonably expect to achieve any of his foreign policy objectives if he tries to tackle all of them (Iran, North Korea, nuclear weapons, missile shields, Afghanistan, the global economy, climate change, etc.) at the same time?
2.Is Obama’s popularity abroad simply a result of ‘he’s not bush’ syndrome?
3.Do Obama’s Foreign Policy goals mark a significant departure from the goals of the Bush era?
4.Are his goals attainable? Are they realistic?
5.Are they good for the United States? For the world?
6.How many United Nations delegates does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Further Reading
Obama Prepares for Week of Foreign Policy Challenges
Clinton Outlines Sweeping Agenda for UN Conference
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