LEFT OF THE RIGHT: President Obama Addresses United Nations. Calls For A “New Era Of Engagement”

President Obama’s speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations was moving and very hopeful. It was very clear, although Obama never mentioned his name, that he wanted to delineate his administration’s foreign policy from that of President Bush. The President said the days of go-it-alone foreign policy was over. The U.S. was entering a “new era of engagement” was the message Obama wanted to communicate to the rest of the world.

In other words President Obama was assuring the international community of nations that adults were once again in charge of the United States. No longer would they have to put up with our country behaving like a school yard bully. And that is exactly how Team Bush behaved. It’s hard to imagine how thinking people could have been so eager for war and so quick to close their eyes to serious issues like the environment. And I’m not talking about the members of Team Bush. I have no question as to why they were war mongering, “drill baby drill” meat bags. It was the moderate Republicans and even Democrats that went along with Team Bush’s idiocy that freaked me out. I suppose it can be attributed to mob think.

But Barack Obama wasn’t fooled. He opposed using military force against terrorists from the beginning. President Obama understands that fighting terrorism means we are not fighting a nation. What we are fighting are ideas. Very evil and dark ideas. But you cannot defeat ideas with military force. Good grief, didn’t we learn that lesson in Vietnam? The way you fight bad ideas is with good ideas and enlightenment. These people who say we should not talk to our enemies or feel no responsibility to open their minds to the cultures and traditions of their fellow human beings just don’t get it. The beginning of living peacefully together is understanding one another.

Listening to Obama speak about humanity reveals a seriously deep thinking man of true wisdom. He asked if our generation would be remembered as the one that dragged the old hatreds and prejudices of the 20^th century into the 21^st? And he called for an end to these obstacles to progress. Which caused me to wonder why humanity would be so dumb. It’s true, every generation passes on anger, hatred and prejudice to the next. Often without even understanding why. To call for end to such stupidity is indeed wise. This is evidenced by the fact that such a call is not new to this generation. But in the past it always fell on deaf ears. But is there a glimmer of hope that this time it may take hold?

I think the fact that we elected Barack Obama President may be the first glimmer it may be true. And I’m not talking about his skin color. I’m talking about his vision of international relations. Judging by how the world admires our President’s approach, could it be that the world is beginning to wake up ushering in a new era? An era where military force truly becomes the last option? An era that sees an end to survival of the fittest economics? Perhaps even an era where the entire world begins cooperating to protect our fragile planet for future generations? Of course only time will tell. But I’m feeling more and more hopeful these days. It’s true that the voices of the past are still loud and obtuse. But their message is old and has not passed the test of time. You might be able to end something with violence, but you never solve anything. And that economical survivalism is self defeating and unjust. These ideas have failed humanity and I do not believe a majority will ever embrace them again.

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Devin Barber, Politics Correspondent

Devin’s column, “Left Of The Right” published weekly or more to Gather Essentials: Politics is a Blue Collar Democrats take on current political news.

Devin was raised by proud Roosevelt Democrats. Being the son of parents counted among the throng of Americans displaced by the Great Depression has given Devin a deep rooted passion for causes dealing with the poor and the working class.

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