Obama summons world leaders to reject extremism
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Confronting global tumult and Muslim anger, President Barack Obama exhorted world leaders Tuesday to stand fast against violence and extremism, arguing that protecting religious rights and free speech must be a universal responsibility and not just an American obligation.
“The impulse towards intolerance and violence may initially be focused on the West, but over time it cannot be contained,” Obama warned the U.N. General Assembly in an urgent call to action underscored by the high stakes for all nations.
The gloomy backdrop for Obama’s speech — a world riven by deadly protests against an anti-Islamic video, by war in Syria, by rising tension over a nuclear Iran and more — marked the dramatic shifts that have occurred in the year since the General Assembly’s last ministerial meeting, when democratic uprisings in the Arab world created a sense of excitement and optimism. Obama had tough words for Iran and condemned anew the violence in Syria as Bashar al-Assad tries to retain power.
Six weeks before the U.S. presidential election, an unmistakable campaign element framed Obama’s speech as well: The president’s Republican rival, Mitt Romney, has tried to cast him as a weak leader on the world stage, too quick to apologize for American values.
NEW YORK (AP) — Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney is unlikely to win Bill Clinton’s vote, but that doesn’t mean he can’t soak up a bit of the popular former president’s luster.
The two men stood side by side Tuesday as Clinton introduced Romney before the GOP candidate’s speech to Clinton’s annual global conference in New York. Clinton recalled working with Romney to save AmeriCorps, and praised the former Massachusetts governor’s efforts to persuade fellow Republicans to support the national service program.
Romney, taking the podium, returned the compliment.
“If there’s one thing we’ve learned in this election season, by the way, it is that a few words from Bill Clinton can do a man a lot of good,” he said, prompting loud laughter and applause from the crowd.
It was a clear nod to Clinton’s speech praising President Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., earlier this month, and the slight uptick in the polls that Obama enjoyed soon after.
“All I got to do now is wait a few days for that bounce to happen,” Romney quipped.
Such moments of bipartisan levity have been rare in a campaign marked by harsh accusations, heavy-handed rhetoric and relentless attack ads between the presidential campaigns and the outside groups that support them.
Obama’s campaign currently is running one such ad against Romney that uses a clip of Clinton’s convention speech where the former president says Romney wants to “take us back to the policies that got us into trouble in the first place.”
But any resentment was noticeably absent Tuesday as Clinton and Romney appeared chummy, patting each other on the shoulder and chatting onstage after Romney’s speech.