Text courtesy of johnkerry.com, here: http://www.johnkerry.com/news/entry/1940
Senator John Kerry addressed “Challenges in a Changing World” at the Fletcher School at Tufts University this evening. Kerry discussed the 21st-century challenges America faces, and how America must choose a President capable of presiding over not just a transition but a transformation in American foreign policy.
Kerry’s address was the inaugural lecture of The Fletcher Political Forum, which was founded this year to promote awareness of the intersection between domestic politics and foreign policy.
Below is his speech as prepared for delivery:
Thanks very much. It’s a great pleasure to be here.
I’m proud to say that under the leadership of my friend Larry Bacow, Tufts University has become one of the best places in America to prepare for leadership in a globalized world. The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy was recently rebranded The Fletcher School. Regrettably, “law and diplomacy” have suffered under the Bush Administration too—but I come here confident that that all of that will change in the months ahead. This is a school that prides itself on preparing leaders with a global perspective. That is exactly what I see in Barack Obama—and thirteen days from now, for the sake of our country and the world, we need to send him to the White House!
But as we look forward, let’s also look to history. Forty-six years ago today, President Kennedy addressed the country at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Soviet ships carrying nuclear warheads were headed for shores less than 100 miles from Florida. Nobody knew for sure what was unfolding or understood the full measure of danger -- but still, some in our own government readily advocated military strikes that, we now know, could well have been met with nuclear retaliation. Our Secretary of Defense, Bob McNamara later said, “We came this close.” We were fortunate then to have a leader with the right combination of judgment, vision, and temperament to spend 13 agonizing days avoiding World War Three. That is the kind of leadership we need today—patient, pragmatic, steely, and wise.
Though today’s threats are different, the issues we must tackle are as complex and pervasive as any I have seen. Fundamentally, there are two great challenges facing the country and the world today. One is foreign policy and the other is the economy. Next Tuesday, I will speak about the implications of the financial crisis, but today I want to talk about national security and America’s role in the world.
We face a complicated and urgent set of challenges. Our Army is strained by two major ground wars. Traditional nation-states like Iran and North Korea operate outside the accepted rules of international behavior. Meanwhile, the very definition of national security is being rewritten to include threats that know no borders: global terror, global AIDS, global warming and—lately—global finance. We must contend not just with rogue states but with failed states too; not just the movements of troops but the flow of dangerous technologies and materials, dislocated people, and scarce energy supplies. And all of this is complicated by disenfranchised populations whose minds are captured by extremists exploiting their plight with lowest common denominator appeals. And too often, religious extremism is translated into radical terrorism.
This is our world. And as you all know and study every day, in the 21st century, our problems are increasingly interconnected. Oil money we send to Saudi Arabia finds sympathizers who fund extremism in Pakistan. Carbon emissions from our highways exacerbate conflict in places like Darfur. Cartoons in Copenhagen ignite riots in Jakarta. One thing we do know is that these interconnected challenges require a global response.
The post cold war world many thought would be simple finds itself ironically resembling the balance of power, interest driven world of Bismarck and Metternich -- only more complicated by a dizzying series of diverse actors and interests unlike anything we have seen before.
And how are we positioned to confront these challenges? Never before in my lifetime has our position in the world—military, diplomatic, economic, and moral—been so compromised. Our military is stretched to the breaking point. We remain bogged down in Iraq. Afghanistan slides into chaos while bin Laden and Zawahiri sit not far from where we left them on 9-11. For years this administration stayed on the sidelines as Iran expanded its nuclear capability and extended its influence throughout the Middle East. Instead of freedom, it’s Hamas, Hezbollah and the Taliban who are on the march. Economically, we are in the midst of a global financial meltdown. Just last week the President of Russia announced the end of American economic dominance—as they considered using our oil money to bail out Iceland’s banks. Meanwhile, some nations have come to doubt our moral credibility -- and without America’s leadership, dictators in places like Burma, Zimbabwe, and Sudan brazenly perpetrate injustice in a world that seems to have lost the capacity to act on its outrage.
So taken together, what does all of this mean? It means that at the very moment we need the most influence around the world, we actually possess the least we’ve had in decades. Looking at this Administration’s record, you can see why the novelist Michael Chabon recently asked, “Is there anybody else who feels that it might be best if we just started the 21st century over again?”
As you might guess-- particularly at this time of year-- I personally try not to dwell on do-overs. But let me tell you: It is imperative that our country begin a new chapter in foreign policy. Fortunately this year we have two impressive, honorable men running for President. John McCain is a friend and a genuine American hero and we have worked together on a number of issues in the Senate. And, in my years of working closely with Barack Obama, I have seen the qualities of a great President. The American people have a real choice between two different visions, two, different styles, and two different judgments about crucial national security issues.
We can all agree that both candidates put America first. But what does that mean in terms of a worldview? For John McCain that means unilateralism, overreliance on our military, and for the most part, a continuation of the old failed approach. For Barack Obama, it means a broader vision and a more integrated understanding of our global threats and how they fit together.
Both candidates have promised change, but change is more than words. We need to elect a President who will lead not just a transition—but a transformation. I believe only one candidate in this race holds that promise. Barack Obama is a leader who understands all our security challenges and sees the big picture—one in which energy security, serious efforts at nonproliferation, functioning financial markets, climate security, robust diplomacy, and America’s standing in the world are all inescapably a part of keeping Americans safe and America strong.
On the other hand, it is not an exaggeration to say we know what a McCain Administration would look like. John McCain has defined it himself. It looks like the past, because if you strip away his lip service to change, on almost every major issue, there is no significant difference from George Bush. You can’t vote 90% of the time with failed policies and a failed President and suddenly, through words alone, separate yourself from that record of beliefs and statements.
We need a President who practices diplomacy like he believes in it. Barack Obama understands that we cannot fight Al Qaeda in 60 countries by ourselves, that in the 21st century, national security problems require us to persuade other counties and influence their behavior. Senator McCain won’t even say whether he’ll talk to the Prime Minister of Spain, which has 800 troops in Afghanistan and is a NATO ally. We need the strong support of other nations to pressure Iran, to stand strong against genocide and for human rights, and to stop climate change. Because let’s face it: without the help of other countries we could cut our carbon emissions to zero tomorrow and still face catastrophe.
To do all this, we need to be respected in the world. We need leaders to be proud to stand next to us. President Obama and Vice President Biden will reclaim our moral authority and that effort will begin by shutting down Guantanamo, ending the era of arrogance, and making clear, once and for all, that the United States of America does not torture—not now, not ever.
Our mistakes over the last eight years have taught us that an ideology is not enough to govern. Judgment is paramount. Too often we find ourselves scrambling to react to the predictable and the preventable. Time and again, Barack Obama has seen farther, thought harder, and listened better. He’s been proven right in the past, and he knows the right direction for the future.
Barack Obama understands that the United States cannot have the economy we want or the security we need unless we cut the Gordian knot of fossil fuel. 21st-century national security policy must start with energy. Nothing is more urgent than ending our addiction to foreign oil. It is shameful that seven years after 9-11 we are more dependent on oil than ever before. We will not be secure until we create clean energy here at home – not with a little more oil in 5, 10 or 20 years, but with an energy revolution starting right now. Instead of sending more than a billion dollars a day to the Mideast, should be creating jobs here at home sending those dollars to the Midwest, the Southwest and here to New England. We cannot drill our way out of this crisis, we must invent our way out.
Barack Obama not only understands that Global Climate Change is man made, but has defined a response that helps restore jobs to our economy, is central to a new energy policy, lives up to our generational responsibility to the environment and makes America healthier. John McCain on the other hand talks about global warming “a test of foresight, of political courage, and of the unselfish concern that one generation owes to the next” – then votes against renewable energy, declares he would oppose his own approach to cap and trade and tops it off by selecting a Vice President who can’t see that climate change is manmade but who can protect America because she can see Russia from her home state!
Restoring America’s strength also demands ending a war in Iraq we never should have started. When John McCain stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier just four months after 9/11 and proclaimed, "Next up, Baghdad!” Barack Obama saw, even then, "an occupation of undetermined length, undetermined cost, undetermined consequences" that would "only fan the flames of the Middle East." Well, guess what? Mission accomplished. And yet, even today John McCain thinks it was a good idea to invade Iraq—even if he knew there were no WMDs and no ties to Al Qaeda! Please!
Today one of the war’s earliest cheerleaders has become one of its last. When we called for a timetable to make Iraqis stand up for Iraq, John McCain called it "cut and run." Today, just about everyone agrees it’s time for the Iraqis to run Iraq. Even President Bush has seen the light. He and Prime Minister Maliki agreed on—guess what?—a timetable! Barack Obama will be as cautious getting us out of war as George Bush was reckless getting into it, but make no mistake: Barack Obama will end this war in a responsible way and bring our heroes home.
And when we do, Barack Obama will finally give Afghanistan the attention it deserves. As the military analyst Tony Cordesman said, compared to Iraq, we have sent 20% of the troops to Afghanistan and spent 20% of the money. Our generals on the ground are crying out for more troops to turn the tide on the Taliban—troops which top military leaders admit we do not have today because they are tied down in Iraq! Yet just six months ago, Senator McCain said: “Afghanistan is not in trouble because of our diversion to Iraq.” Folks: Afghanistan is a country sliding into chaos: just last week the Taliban pulled 50 passengers from a bus and beheaded 30 of them—and, chillingly, picked up the dead men’s phones and called their families to tell them what had happened. A year after Obama said we need more troops, last month John McCain finally, grudgingly became perhaps the last man on earth to realize that he was wrong.
More boots on the ground are vital—but let me be emphatic : if done alone that will not only not solve our problems in Afghanistan, it may make them worse. We need a comprehensive approach to tackle the problems of a failing state —narcotics, a weak police force, and corruption. Success starts by demanding greater accountability from the Afghan government. Improving governance will save American lives and help us win this war—but it will take a sustained commitment, which is hard to envision in a McCain Administration consumed by Iraq.
Barack Obama understands that to succeed in Afghanistan or get Osama Bin Laden we need to also address Pakistan, which faces a fierce and growing insurgency and now a looming economic meltdown. As Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "I believe fundamentally if the United States is going to get hit, it's going to come out of the planning that the leadership in the FATA is generating, their planning and direction." Barack Obama understands that, more often than ever before in this security environment, the people will be the center of gravity. For years, Joe Biden and I have been working together to fundamentally alter our nation’s relationship with Pakistan – and to make clear that we support not just the government but also the people and the democracy they are building.
John McCain has shown a troubling unwillingness to see a failed policy for what it was. For years we bet on the dictator Musharraf—and despite all warning signs, John McCain doubled down when he should have hedged. Even after it was clear that Musharraf was no longer viable, John McCain was praising his leadership. This, despite the fact that Musharraf’s undemocratic actions were turning the people of Pakistan against him and, by extension, against us.
When it comes to Iran, we need a long-term strategy for the country and the region. Iran has embarked not only on a nuclear program but on an ambitious plan to increase its influence across the Middle East. Senator McCain responds by ignoring Iran and disdaining diplomacy. On the other hand, Senator Obama will engage more forcefully in a good-faith diplomatic effort—with Iran and across the region—to create the leverage necessary to increase pressure on Iran and give us our best chance to stop its nuclear program.
Barack Obama also got it right on Russia. He and Joe Biden saw the crisis in Georgia coming, and tried to prevent it by calling for a high level international mediator and peacekeepers to help resolve the disputes over South Ossetia and Abkhazia before they exploded. We need 21st century statesmanship to prevent conflicts from becoming crises—not respond after the fact with bluster. Remarkably, even as John McCain urges throwing Russia out of the G-8, in the next breath he talks about signing a historic arms control deal with Moscow. Good luck!
John McCain was right when he said, “we need a steady hand on the tiller.” But the last few months, culminating in the candidates’ response to global financial crisis, have only confirmed what we already knew: that steady hand belongs to Barack Obama.
In John McCain’s memoir, “Worth the Fighting For,” he described his decision making process this way: “I make them as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can. Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint.”
Ask yourself: What would have happened if John McCain had been in the White House 46 years ago today, as Russian ships raced across the Atlantic with our survival in the balance. What would have happened if our President had made the quickest decision he could? Would he have made a mistake in haste? Would he have kept his cool? Would he have negotiated, as Kennedy did, with our enemies? If not, we all would have suffered the consequences.
But you know something? It’s time we remember that there’s a lot more to the Presidency than just dealing with threats and crises. Electing Barack Obama is an opportunity to inspire Americans and recapture the world’s imagination. We need leaders who can speak across divides. In this respect, Barack Obama is a generational talent—he offers a remarkable opportunity to reconnect with the world. We can forge new connections from the Luo tribe of Kenya to the fishing town of Obama Japan to a boy in Pakistan who will see an American President whose mere presence is a compelling challenge to all the poison he’s ever heard about this faraway country.
And let me say: There are communities in America that need to hear from us as well. After 9-11 I came to Fletcher and spoke with students about protecting tolerance and religious freedom in the tough days that followed: One of the students who spoke was an Afghan American who fled her native country as a child. Her name was Rina Amiri, and she was remarkable. Eloquently and passionately, she stood up and demanded that nobody lump her and all Muslims together with the extremists: She said, “The color of our hair and our skin does not reflect what is in our hearts and minds.” After eight years of an Administration that didn’t understand the Sunni-Shi’a divide, that couldn’t understand the difference between a secular dictator and a religious terrorist, we need leaders with a more sophisticated and humane understanding of the world.
The other day on Meet the Press, Colin Powell delivered an extraordinarily eloquent moving defense of diversity in this country. Too often extreme voices in our political discourse have sent an ugly, if implicit, message: You can be a Muslim, or you can be American, but you can’t be both. We are all hurt when Al Jazeera beams pictures of Americans denouncing Obama as Muslim across the Islamic world, as if that were some kind of slur. Unlike some countries in Europe, American Muslim communities are fully integrated into the fabric of our society and our economy – and that keeps all of us safer every day here at home.
What’s more, the world is watching: The experience of Muslims here in America matters for our global efforts to strengthen moderates and fight a global terrorist insurgency that feeds on resentment. We need to speak directly to our Muslim communities and let them know when it comes to Americans, there is no “us” and there is no “them”-- —and we won’t hear otherwise!
Building a stronger America, at home and abroad, isn’t something a President can do alone. Whoever the next President is, we need to enlist all of you to rebuild bridges. When I was the age that many of you are, if you were an American overseas, someone would buy you a beer. A lot has changed since then.
We need you to go to rural China and teach children English. We need you to go to a village in Mali where there is no potable water and help people to dig a well. We need you to sit around in a coffee shop in any city in the Arab world, and explain that the decent people of the Middle East have nothing to fear from the United States. We need you to enlist in our Armed Forces. We need you to rebuild our cities right here at home and start living green. All of this will make America stronger—regardless of how you vote.
Four years ago, we set out to take back our country. Now, we have a chance to finally complete that journey. This is our chance to fulfill the promise of America for this generation and beyond, to reclaim our future, to remake our destiny.
This is our chance to have a leader who can raise hopes and inspire trust—not raise fears and demand blind faith; who will finally marshal all our resources—military, diplomatic, economic, and yes, moral.
History gives us moments. We can’t afford to let them pass. This is a rare opportunity to fundamentally change the direction of this country. This is a chance to make America and the world a better place. This is a moment to shatter boundaries and make history that our grandchildren will be proud of. We need to seize this opportunity, this chance, this moment, to make Barack Obama President of the United States. Thank you.