Thursday, December 4, 2008 7:18 PM CST
UN 'hopeful' about Obama presidency, says expert
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — A 2006 photo of President-elect Barack Obama in front of the popular Superman sculpture in the small Southern Illinois town of Metropolis generally received one of two reactions.
For some, the picture, in which Obama strikes the same fists-on-the-hips pose as the Man of Steel, elicited hope for “super change,” said Kent Kille, political science expert and professor at the College of Wooster (Ohio).
For others, the Superman photo suggested a man who thinks too highly of himself.
In the absence of formal polling data, Kille speculated that reaction to the picture within the United Nations, at least, was “more along the first part.”
“In the United Nations, (Obama) has been widely and positively received,” he said.
Kille, recent author and editor of two books on leadership at the U.N., told a crowded Eastern Illinois University lecture hall Wednesday that the international community believes America’s choice for president would bolster strained relations between the United States and the U.N.
Kille said Obama’s choice for top U.N. diplomat bodes well for improved cooperation between the U.N. and its largest funding source. And Obama may have an amicable relationship with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who secretly supported Obama before the election and shares many of the same views on topics of global interest, said Kille.
“At the United Nations, it’s an overwhelming hope and support for Obama (before the election) that has continued accordingly,” he said.
If this hope pans out, it would mark a dramatic shift from the Bush administration’s treatment of the U.N., said Kille. Over the last eight years, the U.N. has accused the United States of being “focused on unilateral, not multinational” decisions, especially in regard to the war in Iraq, Kille said.
Bush’s choice of the “conservative” and “abrasive” John R. Bolton as ambassador to the U.N. stands in contrast to Obama’s pick as ambassador, Susan E. Rice.
Bolton said of the U.N. and Obama: “What (U.N. officials) want is the bending of the knee, and they’ll get it from the Obama administration.”
But Rice, who is not related to current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has already been “very well received in United Nations circles” because of her “expert foreign policy experience,” said Kille.
Susan Rice is a former diplomat under the Clinton administration who served as Obama’s top foreign policy adviser. Her selection as ambassador “is seen as a very positive message to the United Nations,” said Kille.
“It represents a prioritization” of the U.N. by Obama, who effectively has said, “One of my key advisers (will) serve as my voice in the United Nations,” Kille said.
Neither Obama nor his opponent, Sen. John McCain, said much about the U.N. during the presidential campaign, although Obama did comment that the United States “must rededicate itself to the organization and its mission,” and “no country has a greater stake in a strong United Nations than the United States.”
Kille said the U.N. is optimistic Obama would “re-emphasize” issues such as:
n Economic development and the fight against global poverty;
n Global population, including renewed U.S. funding that was suspended in 2002 after erroneous allegations the U.N. was involved in forced abortions in China;
n Nuclear arms proliferation;
n Human rights, including longstanding treaties the United States has yet to ratify, as well as the U.S. boycott of the U.N. Human Rights Council;
n Climate change and the environment, which are currently being discussed by international leaders in Poland in an effort to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
“The United Nations is hopeful” about Obama, said Kille. “Whether or not (the U.N.) is really one of his priorities remains to be seen.”
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
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sapient wrote on Dec 4, 2008 10:50 AM: