Bac 2011 Oral Test
The U.S will have a brief window of opportunity when George W. Bush leaves office. To renew its global leadership and overcome unconventional threats, it must do more than replace a failed president. It's time for America to show a new face to the world.
The U.S needs a president willing to talk to all nations, friend and foe. Such openness will help reverse America's perceived obstructionism. The nation needs a leader who will win propaganda battles with petty tyrants, and who will personally engage in conflict resolution, instead of parachuting in for photo opportunities. To support that effort, Washington should increase its Foreign Service personnel and reopen consulates in tough corners of the world (...) To counter prophets of hate with a message of hope, America should send its best and brightest abroad to build ties with the Islamic world. And the president must restore moral leadership by shutting down Guantanamo and renouncing torture without equivocation.
The world will work with- not against -U.S power if it is put to principled use and directed toward common goals. The United Nations' goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015 must be made America'
s goal, and I will double foreign aid to $50 billion to achieve it. We need to combat climate change by leading the world toward an 80 percent reduction of emissions below 1990s levels by 2050.
The world will see a new face of America the day that I am elected. My understanding of these challenges was not just shaped in the corridors of power; it has been shaped by the wider world. My father crossed an ocean to seek the dream of America. As a boy, I played barefoot with children in Indonesia. As a young man, I worked in the forgotten corners of America, where people struggled with violence and hopelessness. U.S leadership has succeeded whenever a new generation of Americans has offered the world new visions, new policies and new faces. I will unite and rally Americans behind this approach by being honest and open with them at home. And I will lead an America that the world can trust and believe in once more.
Barack Obama, Newsweek, 2008, p.40 (Special Edition)