Sending a Clear Message

I was following President Obama’s attendance at the Americas summit last week and was struck by how the possible rapprochement with Cuba was being rolled out and the potential applicability to the Tibet issue of the language that was employed by the President in Trinidad. Drawing from news coverage of the President’s remarks:

• We seek a new beginning – including direct talks.

• There is a longer journey that must be traveled in overcoming decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day.

• These are very preliminary steps, but they are significant.

• I am prepared to have my administration engage with the C_______ government on a wide range of issues.

• Let me be clear, I am not interested in talking for the sake of talking. But I do believe that we can move relations in a new direction.

• Stale debates have undermined opportunities to forge new partnerships.

• I didn’t come here to debate the past – I came here to deal with the future.  As neighbors, we have a responsibility to each other.

• We’re going to explore and see if we can make some further steps. There are some things that the C_______ government could do.

• That would be an example of cooperation where both governments are working to help families and raise the standards of living.

• The people are not free, and that’s our lodestone, our North Star, when it comes to our policy in C_______.

• The summit had a lot of symbolism, but symbolism that sends a positive message: our interests are better met, not with confrontation, but with action.

This is the language of diplomacy and 21st century leadership.

(Photo Caption: U.S. President Barack Obama addresses a news conference on the rooftop terrace of his hotel after the conclusion of the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, April 19, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)