Walesa: U.S. must reclaim moral leadership

[FormerOstrich]

Another voice....

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- America's role as a global economic power is unchallenged, but it must reassert its role as a moral superpower, former Polish president and Nobel laureate Lech Walesa said Thursday.

"No one has the least doubt that you are the economic leader and the military leader to the world, but I have heard a lot of doubts regarding the moral and political leadership of the United States," said Walesa, speaking through an interpreter during a lecture at Kansas State University.

"In today's world ... we are faced with some big question marks that it will be up to you to find the answers to," he said.

Democracy, Walesa said, has been cemented in Eastern Europe, where his Solidarity movement helped weaken communist control of Poland in the 1980s. But in countries like Iraq, democratic reforms will not come through the imposition of force, but through creating a legal infrastructure that empowers citizens to create independent businesses and political parties, he said.

http://news.lycos.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=1511134

[jaysunb]

1. Can you say ...BITCH SLAP !

:toast:

[saigon68]

11. moral leadership

Begins here

[Erika]

2. W can claim leadership for only corporate globalists

and as their king. Very few Americans think he represents them. He's flushing Americans down the toilet.

[Canuckistanian]

3. Lech Walesa is not very popular these days in Poland

He's turning out to be quite a ruthless, heartless capitalist.

I heard this from my boss, a fairly recent immigre from Poland.

[Orangeone]

4. Didn't He support war in Iraq?

N/T

[lovuian]

5. Lech knows he stood up against the biggest enforcer

Communist Russia...

[fooj]

6. Apparently, West Point Grads feel the same way.........

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2568636&mesg_id=2568636

[melody]

7. Bush's job is to destroy leadership for the US ... why would he restore it

He is getting paid a lot of blood money to destroy our standing in the world community, at the hand of our
own people and nationals of countries we thought were allies.

Why would Bush want to help the US do anything? Surely Walesa has been around the mill long enough to know how
the grist is ground.

[LynnTheDem]

8. Dear Poland;

Poland, which has sent troops to support the US-led forces in Iraq, has acknowledged its "ultimate objective" is to acquire supplies of Iraqi oil.

The Polish Foreign Minister, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, said his country had never disguised the fact that it sought direct access to the oilfields.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3043330.stm

So dear Poland;

How moral do YOU feel?

[leesa]

9. Why do they keep referring to us as the economic leader when we are the

biggest debtor nation on the planet?

It's great that he gave this speech in Kansas, perhaps he will wake people up in the heartland. Hopefully, their Senators were there.

[0007]

10. Being a superpower is a fucking joke. Why can we be just

an honest and caring nation?

What kind of crap is this to feed our youth? "Reassert its role as a moral superpower" Are we not part of the world and its problems? Why should we be playing "Steal the Flag"?

Can't we become creative instead of competitive for just once?

[applegrove]

12. Yep. We miss the good old USA. The Clinton one. Everyone misses

it.