Barack Obama put the Bush era decisively behind him today in a speech to the United Nations in which he rejected unilateralism in favour of countries working together to tackle problems ranging from the Middle East to Iran and North Korea.
In his first address to the UN general assembly, Obama said he would need the support of other countries in tackling what he described as the world's most intractable problems. "Make no mistake: this cannot solely be America's endeavour. 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," he said.
I think Obama misses the point here: the same people -- including some in his own party -- will chastise America for acting and not acting. It's happened before. In this environment, the options are either do the right thing, or sit on your hands. What will Obama do? Any guesses?
Obama, despite the sentiments expressed today, has so far failed to translate his popularity round the world into concrete achievementsEr, I don't think Ewen MacAskill quite gets it. The reason President Monkey is popular around the world is because people around the world are fully aware that he has neither the will nor the ability to acheive anything concrete: an unacheiving America is the sort of sick snobbish attitude that permeates much of the planet. If Obama was capable of any of the acheivements listed in this article, he wouldn't be popular around the world [but might push above 45% in America! -ed].
