Change We Can Believe In, by Barack Obama: on Foreign Policy

In Berlin: proud citizen of US; fellow citizen of the world

I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.

I know that I don’t look like the Americans who’ve previously spoken in this great city. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.

People of the world--look at Berlin!

Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.

People of the world--look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.

Source: Speech in Berlin, in Change We Can Believe In, p.262-3 Jul 24, 2008

Dangers of intertwined world can’t be contained in borders

The 21st century has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers--dangers that cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean.

The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil.

As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.

In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. And if we’re honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny.

Source: Speech in Berlin, in Change We Can Believe In, p.264-5 Jul 24, 2008

Cooperation among nations is not a choice; it’s the only way

In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe’s role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth--that Europeans today are bearing new burdens; and that America still sacrifices greatly for freedom around the globe.

Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more--not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.

Source: Speech in Berlin, in Change We Can Believe In, p.265 Jul 24, 2008

In Cold War, we won hearts & minds; now do same to world

This is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world. We must remember that the Cold War born in this city was not a battle for land or treasure. Sixty years ago, the planes that flew over Berlin did not drop bombs; instea they delivered food, and coal, and candy to grateful children. And in that show of solidarity, those pilots won more than a military victory. They won hearts and minds; love and loyalty and trust--not just from the people of Berlin, but from all those who heard the story of what they did here.

Now the world will watch and remember. Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time? Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law?

People of Berlin--people of the world--this is our moment. This is our time.

Source: Speech in Berlin, in Change We Can Believe In, p.269-70 Jul 24, 2008

The above quotations are from Change We Can Believe In Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America Published Sept. 9, 2008. Click here for definitions & background information on Foreign Policy. Click here for other issues (main summary page). Click here for more quotes by Barack Obama on Foreign Policy.
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