core sector communique

America Must Lead Through Engagement, Obama Says

 

 

By Stephen Kaufman

Staff Writer

 

Washington - There must be continued American leadership to halt the spread of nuclear weapons, develop clean energy and advance human dignity throughout the world, President Obama says, restating his commitment to global engagement.

 

Speaking January 27 in his first State of the Union address, Obama told U.S. lawmakers, Cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, U.S. military officers and the American people that the United States is leading through engagement to advance "the common security and prosperity of all people."

 

U.S. engagement includes taking a leadership role in fighting climate change; working to sustain a lasting global economic recovery; establishing partnerships around the world in science, education and innovation; and providing humanitarian food and medical assistance, including in the fight against HIV/AIDS, he said.

 

"America takes these actions because our destiny is connected to those beyond our shores. But we also do it because it is right," Obama said.

 

In defense of human dignity around the world, "we stand with the girl who yearns to go to school in Afghanistan; ... we support the human rights of the women marching through the streets of Iran; and we advocate for the young man denied a job by corruption in Guinea," he said.

 

The president said the threat of nuclear weapons constitutes "perhaps the greatest danger to the American people," and his administration is pursuing a strategy to reverse their spread and to ultimately seek "a world without them."

 

The United States and Russia are expected to resume negotiations on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Geneva February 1. The president described the proposed pact as "the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades."

 

The agreement is scheduled to be signed ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit) that the president will host in April. Representatives of 44 countries will gather in Washington with the goal of securing "all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years, so that they never fall into the hands of terrorists," he said.

 

Nations such as North Korea and Iran that are pursuing nuclear weapons, in turn, are facing stronger economic sanctions and increasing international unity against their efforts, the president said.

 

The president reiterated that American combat brigades will leave Iraq by the end of August, but the United States will continue to work in partnership and support with the Iraqi government and its people.  In Afghanistan, he said, stepped up pressure against the Taliban and increased training of Afghan security forces will allow those forces to take the lead for their country's security beginning in July 2011 and for American troops to begin returning home.

 

THE ECONOMY

 

Most of the president's remarks focused on the American economy. Obama said that although the worst of the 2008 recession now has passed, the U.S. unemployment rate is at 10 percent, businesses have shut down and American home values have declined.

 

For many, "change has not come fast enough," he said, and job creation will continue to be the top domestic focus in 2010.

 

One key sector for economic development is clean energy, and the president said that development of that sector, along with reducing pollution and mitigating climate change, will provide new jobs and spur economic growth.

 

This is "the right thing to do for our future," Obama said.  "The nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy.  And America must be that nation."

 

In addition, the United States needs to increase its exports and aggressively seek new markets.

 

"If America sits on the sidelines while other nations sign trade deals, we will lose the chance to create jobs on our shores," he said.

 

The president said his administration will be working in 2010 to shape the Doha round of World Trade Organization talks in order to increase trade through open markets, and "we will strengthen our trade relations in Asia and with key partners like South Korea, and Panama, and Colombia."

 

Along with creating jobs and increasing trade, the president called for measures to reduce the U.S. national debt, such as freezing government spending and reforming health insurance.

 

Obama said his proposed three-year freeze in government spending would save about $20 billion in 2011, but would not affect spending in certain areas, including national security, which includes most foreign assistance.

 

Passage of health insurance reform legislation not only would save lives and improve the security of many Americans, but also would "bring down the deficit by as much as $1 trillion over the next two decades," he said.

 

"Don't walk away from reform.  Not now.  Not when we are so close.  Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people," the president said.

 

Obama closed by saying that democracy in a nation of 300 million citizens "can be noisy and messy and complicated."  But he urged lawmakers to "start anew" after coming through a difficult decade in order to "carry the [American] dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more."