Yesterday:
(Transcript below the fold)
From the White House Blog: “”America Must Always Lead”: President Obama Addresses West Point Graduates
This morning, President Obama traveled to West Point to congratulate the newest officers in the United States Army and to reflect on America’s foreign policy agenda. In the President’s remarks, he acknowledged that our world is changing with accelerating speed and that America must be equipped to respond to an increasingly dynamic environment.
It will be your generation’s task to respond to this new world. The question we face; the question you will face; is not whether America will lead, but how we will lead, not just to secure our peace and prosperity, but also to extend peace and prosperity around the globe.
The President spent most of his speech outlining his vision for how the United States, and our military, should lead in the years to come. The four elements of American leadership included:
1. Using military force when our core interests are at stake or our people are threatened
2. Shifting our counter-terrorism strategy by more effectively partnering with countries where terrorist networks seek a foothold
3. Continuing to strengthen and enforce international order through evolving our institutions, such as NATO and the United Nations
4. Supporting democracy and human rights around the globe, not only as a matter of idealism, but one of national securityPresident Obama articulated that the United States is a global leader – a nation that “must always lead on the world stage.”
Ultimately, global leadership requires us to see the world as it is, with all its danger and uncertainty. But American leadership also requires us to see the world as it should be – a place where the aspirations of individual human beings matter; where hopes and not just fears govern; where the truths written into our founding documents can steer the currents of history in the direction of justice. And we cannot do that without you.
"Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail." -President Obama on U.S. leadership in the world
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 28, 2014