Above all, a President Obama must reverse the attitude and the tone with which America has dealt with the rest of the world for the last eight years. He must make it quickly clear that under his leadership American security will depend not just on resolute opposition to those who would do us harm, but on collaborative partnerships and a diplomacy of honest and respectful problem-solving. He must make it equally clear that American economic well-being will depend on trade and development policies that also build the prosperity of others, including the world’s poor.
My last day in Lagos I visited one of the most God-awful slums I have ever seen. Ragged kids there rushed up to touch my American hands. They shouted, “Hooray Obama” and I shouted the same thing back to them.
We are all full of hope.
John Graham is a former Foreign Service Officer and now President of the Giraffe Heroes Project, www.giraffe.org.
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