Obama: proud to be an American…
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FILE UNDER: Barack Obama
Barack Obama is planning to deliver an important foreign policy = speech on Tuesday, aides to Obama just told me. The speech is going to be billed as a comprehensive, substantive = proposal for improving American’s damaged international standing and = fortifying its security by dealing more proactively with failed states. I got to talk a little bit about it with Samantha Power, a Pulitzer = Prize-winning author on the subject of genocide and an informal = advisor to Mr. Obama’s campaign who is helping to write the speech. “We’re going to hear something very unusual on the left, which is a = genuine pride in what America can be again,” she told me. “It’s a = bigger story about failing states. It’s not a regional story. It’s = more freedom from fear and freedom from war.” Drafts of the speech, she said, call for a return to “legitimacy and = competence” as the two pillars upon which America should rebuild its = standing in the world and fortify its national security. Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton confirmed that the speech would = be delivered on Tuesday, but made a point to say that it was but one = of many major policy addresses in the works. Another of Obama’s foreign policy advisors said that the speech will = “lay out his vision of where American leadership needs to take the = country in the 21st century to protect its interests and the American = people.” The speech will also deal with “priorities,” said the advisor, who = said it would “start with Iraq and go from there.” The advisor added that the vision is “uniquely Obama and can be said = by Obama.” The point, the advisor said, is to demonstrate that “Obama = has a uniquely international background. He is American first and is = proud of America and is proud of what only America can do.” Power has been advising Obama on foreign policy since the campaign = started, and worked in his Senate office as what she called a “big = think” role between 2005 and 2006 as part of a Council on Foreign = Relations fellowship. Talking about the speech, she told me that = drafts of the upcoming speech reflect Obama’s “alluring pragmatism,” = and added that it would be followed by several, more detailed = addresses on how to deal with specific challenges, including failed = states and nuclear proliferation. Drafts of the major address, which Power was working on with Obama’s = foreign policy team and his chief speechwriter, Jon Favreau, argue = that “respect” is the essential currency in conducting effective = foreign policy, and that the foreign policy blunders and = embarrassments of the Bush administration have weakened the nation’s = hand in influencing world affairs. “When he talks about restoring American’s standing in the world,” = Power said, “it’s born of a very clear-eyed, almost cold = understanding that in these international bodies we will not get what = we want — we will not get the solutions we need if we do not have = respect.” Ms. Power said that drafts of the speech make the case that national = security will be strengthened by a greater respect for America in = “Africa, where people join rebel movements, and in countries where = people are joining terrorist groups.” Power also contrasted what she said was Obama’s effort to look = forward with the foreign policy attitudes of his Democratic rivals = John Edwards and Hillary Clinton, who she suggested was stuck in a = 1990s view of the world, when American influence was much greater. “Edwards is less prone to this than Hillary,” she said, adding “Let’s = be clear, those tools that we got away with by the skin of our teeth = are not the tools that are going to work in the 21st century.” While many of the Democratic candidates, and especially Mr. Edwards, = have made a restoration of international respect for American a = lynchpin of their foreign policy philosophies, Power argued that = Obama was the only candidate who intended to use the respect as an = instrument of change. The other candidates, Power said, called for “respect for respect’s = sake.” Obama, who was a state Senator from Illinois two years ago, has been = the subject of criticism from rival campaigns about his inexperience = on foreign policy matters. The series of policy addresses, = presumably, represents an effort to put those concerns to rest. – Jason Horowitz UPDATE: Samantha Power asked me to clarify that her comments about = Clinton and Edwards are her personal opinion as a professor of US = foreign policy, and that she was not speaking in her capacity as an = advisor to the Obama campaign.