A New Era of Diplomacy...It's About Damn Time

Press Junkie Commentator: Anne Adoryan

I have to admit that I used to cringe when I would see President Bush on TV making a speech on international politics to a group of foreign emissaries. His southern drawl delivering cliche battle cries sent shooting pains up the core of my spine and caused a stiff aching in the deepest part of my chest. It still does. His ignorance of foreign politics and his complete disregard for the beauty and intricacies of other cultures made me ashamed to call him my leader. The world is in a fragile place right now, and I know America must take a big part of the blame. But when I saw President Obama making a speech in Turkey this morning I was comforted by my lack of a visceral reaction. I'm not on the same page with everything that he is trying to do, but I am excited by his efforts to fix our relations with foreign nations. We need to be respected as a country, not feared. Bush's global paternalism was unproductive and I'm happy to see that our new leader is using his first months in office to try to repair the ties that the past eight years have cut.

(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)