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Clinton To Address Trade, NATO In U.N. Speech Monday
From CNN White House Correspondent Eileen O'Connor
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Sep. 21) -- Trade and NATO expansion are expected to be among the items on the agenda that President Bill Clinton will set out Monday in an address to the United Nations in New York.
Heading into this speech, Clinton knows, as many of his predecessors did, that global affairs can offer a safe haven -- a chance to be presidential, to leave a historic legacy, to lead unchallenged.
"America has a unique role," says Sandy Berger, Clinton's national security adviser. "When our national interests are involved, if we don't lead, very often things don't happen."
The president's speech is expected to make the case for keeping the peace in Europe through enlarging NATO to include emerging democracies in central and eastern Europe. He is also expected to focus on the need for expanding international trade.
Clinton is also expected to call for improved ties with Asian countries, stressing engagement, not isolation.
But as he addresses world leaders, Clinton faces critics at home who believe that his administration has not shown enough leadership on the world stage.
They cite places such as Bosnia, where the wait for European leadership and consensus meant a prolonged war with thousands dead, and Rwanda, where unchecked genocide resulted in the deaths of more than 800,000 people.
"I think our foreign policy tiger has too few teeth," says Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo. "We've been able to raise some issues, but we haven't been able to get any results."
"We should seize opportunities to speak to the U.N., to tell them where we want to lead the world," says Ashcroft. "And I believe failure to do that would be a missed opportunity."
White House officials counter that they must negotiate a fine balance between leadership and bullying.
"We have to be very careful. The United States can't do everything. We can't be everywhere and we shouldn't. We have to make sure that our own national interests are involved," says Berger.
While White House officials admit some mistakes were made and opportunities missed, they say those lessons were learned -- and insist that the United States is set to lead internationally.
In Other News:
Weekend Sept. 20 & 21, 1997
• Clinton To Address Trade, NATO In U.N. Speech Monday
• Republicans Demand Independent Probe Of Clinton Fund-raising
• Fund-raising Flap Hinges On 1883 Law
• Justice Department To Search White House Phone Logs
• Reno Launches Clinton Fund-raising Probe
• Clinton Threatens to Veto Education Bills