Obama Speaks To Britain About American Values

June 1. 2009

"Obama gives pledge on US "values'"

President Barack Obama gave an interview to the BBC, during the post-Bush diplomatic clean up effort. During the interview he spoke about American values and not imposing it on the rest of the world.

As I've stated before, I think the U.S. Constitution is a fair and decent document. The problems arose when a president, George W. Bush, threw it out the window, refused to listen to sound counsel and committed an egregious string of war crimes, changing America's name in the world in an awful way.

One is free to profess one's beliefs and way of life in the Western world, but Bush in his madness, started a war based on a lie, claiming it to be American liberation and "values", when in actuality, he and former VP Dick Cheney had concocted a scheme to steal Iraq's oil, committing outright genocide in the process. He even unconscionably stated the oil was going to pay for the cost of the war, which immediately gave away his intentions.

President Barack Obama (AP)

The world was never going to accept such heinous conduct and thanks to Bush and Cheney, the globe began to view this as what America stands for.

It's now up to Mr. Obama and those that occupy office after him, to change that terrible perception Bush and Cheney recklessly created. The key is humility, kindness and the willingness to admit one was wrong, one behalf of one's government, even if the horrible man that preceded you, did all the damage.

If it were me, I'd apologize and vow the government will improve, seeking to start a new chapter in the world.

President Obama: "The danger is when any country thinks it can impose values on another country"

US President Barack Obama has told the BBC that the US cannot impose its values on other countries.

But, in his first interview with a UK broadcaster, he said the rule of law, democracy and freedoms of speech and religion were "universal values".

"These are values that are important, even when it's hard," he said...

Mr Obama told BBC North America Editor Justin Webb that he wanted to deliver the message "that democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of religion ... are not simply principles of the West to be hoisted on these countries".

This is not an apology for the actions of the Bush White House - that the president told me flatly
Justin Webb's America

He said there were "obviously" human rights issues to address in some Middle Eastern countries, but there were some "universal principles that they can embrace and affirm as part of their national identity".

"The danger, I think, is when the United States, or any country, thinks that we can simply impose these values on another country with a different history and a different culture," he said...

But he said that the most important thing for the US was to "serve as a role model"...

http://news.bbc.co.uk