Orlando Sentinel: Obama faces dire problems, policy experts say at UCF forum
Jessica Sunday | Special to the Sentinel
President-elect Barack Obama faces a striking range of problems – from a spiraling economy to security threats to global warming, said a series of speakers on Thursday at a UCF forum on the presidency.
Two days after Obama’s historic election, a group of policy experts took turns outlining the deep problems that face him as he prepares to take office. The forum, “America’s Next President and the World,” was held in the Key West Ballroom of the Student Union before an audience of about 250 people. It was sponsored by UCF’s Global Perspectives Office.
Morning keynote speaker Bernard Finel, senior fellow at the Washington-based American Security Project, said that to much of the world America appears to be an “800-pound gorilla.”
“The thing about an 800-pound gorilla is that it’s scary,” said Finel. He said he would counsel the next president to exercise “restraint” in the nation’s foreign policy and reassure the world that the U.S. can work with foreign leaders rather than just trying to solve the world’s problems on its own. Two of the speakers emphasized the importance of free trade.
UCF economics professor Sean Snaith declared that the U.S. is in a recession and that the country can’t afford “wishful thinking” when it comes to trade. Stanching the flow of American goods into countries whose labor and environmental policies we don’t like will only further hurt the U.S. economy. “Net exports have kept our head above water thus far,” said Snaith.
Helping the U.S. economy recover is the most important thing the U.S. can do for other countries, including Latin America, said former Ambassador Myles Frechette of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Trade, once an exotic appetizer, is now the main course” in many Latin American countries, said Frechette. The U.S. should increase trade with Latin America, he said.
Former CNN foreign correspondent Mike Chinoy said the United States must strengthen ties with China because “In 25 years, China may be the world’s second-largest economy.”
But the country that needs immediate attention from the new administration will be Afghanistan, said Lisa Curtis, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
It is critical that Obama signal his willingness to commit the U.S. to stabilizing Afghanistan, she said.
“Pulling out right now would signal weakness,” said Curtis.
The speaker who got the most reaction from the audience was Beatrice Fernando, founder of the Nivasa Foundation, who shared her story of living as a slave in her homeland of Sri Lanka. Fernando reminded the audience that human trafficking is alive and well in the world and must be stamped out. She stressed the urgency of keeping human rights at the forefront of Obama’s agenda.
“Wake up. Listen. Make a statement,” Fernando told the crowd, which stood to its feet to give her loud applause, many with tear-filled eyes.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-unews-obama-ucf-forum-110708,0,5945562.story
