Obama is right that the view that "America is part of what has gone wrong in our world" is "all too common" in Europe. But one would hope that an American leader, especially one who may be the next president of the United States, would tell a European audience how wrong such a perception is, would tell them that whatever his or their differences with American policies, America has been and continues to be the greatest force for good on earth.
Obama: "The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all."
Obama is certainly right that Darfur "shames the conscience of us all." But he offers not one suggestion concerning what to do about it. Nor one lesson that he draws from it.
Obama: "Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world…"
Which Europeans? What new burdens? Where are they taking more responsibility?
What new burdens have Spain, France, Norway or Sweden taken on? It seems to many of us that most European countries work hard to ensure that their welfare states prosper and, beyond that, do little to promote liberty on earth or even ensure their won security and values.
Obama: "That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another."
What new walls is he referring to? The wall America is erecting to keep people from illegally entering? The barrier Israel has erected that has reduced terror there to almost zero? It would seem that those are actually good walls. Or is he referring to the walls many Muslim immigrants to Europe build in order to insulate themselves from Western influences? One doubts it. But there is no way to know, since Mr. Obama again offers a platitude that means little.
And as regards "the greatest danger of all," that remains, as it always was, acts and doctrines of evil, not walls or carbon dioxide emissions.
Obama: "The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down."
Those thoughts are lovely. But what matters is who is responsible for erecting these walls. For example, is it Christians or Jews or Muslims who today are erecting walls between "Christian and Muslim and Jew"? Obama seems to imply that all are equally responsible.
Obama: "This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. … This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons."
This naivete is frightening. A "world without nuclear weapons" is a foolish and dangerous fantasy. The problem with nuclear weapons -- as with all weapons -- is not that they exist; it is that evil men may obtain and use them. Those of us preoccupied with protecting the innocent want good nations to have the most powerful weapons on earth. We do not share Sen. Obama's goal of America and its enemies having the same weapons.