LONDON — President Obama on Wednesday called for a new chapter in the long partnership between the United States and Great Britain, saying that global economic, military and climate challenges require “remaking ourselves to meet the demands of a new era.”
Even as he argued how much the world has changed since the allies emerged victorious from World War II, Obama told a joint session of Parliament that U.S.-British cooperation — in military, diplomatic, economic and humanitarian efforts — remains a cornerstone of global security.
“As new threats spread across borders and oceans, we must dismantle terrorist networks and stop the spread of nuclear weapons; confront climate change and combat famine and disease,” Obama said. “And as a revolution races through the streets of the Middle East and North Africa, the entire world has a stake in the aspirations of a generation that longs to determine its own destiny.”
Obama’s speech was intended to celebrate the military partnership between the United States and Great Britain, who together have waged war in three Muslim nations over the past decade, and at the same time to reassure a European audience that the heavy cost of those efforts has been essential.
Britain and several other European members of NATO are sharply cutting back spending and public services to rebalance budgets strained by the weak global economy — something the United States hasn’t done to the same extent.
Obama delivered his address, characterized by advisers as “the anchor speech” of his six-day European trip, at the ornate and history-laden Westminster Hall, becoming the first American leader to give such a speech in that venue.
The stone Gothic building, with a high vaulted ceiling of wooden beams, dates to 1099, and served as the banquet hall for many English kings, including Richard I. It is where Winston Churchill’s body lay in state. Only three previous foreign presidents have addressed parliament here: French presidents Albert LeBrun and Charles de Gaulle and South African President Nelson Mandela.
Obama spoke at the front of the long hall, a floor-to-ceiling stained glass window the backdrop behind him. More than 1,000 lawmakers, governments officials and other invited dignitaries gathered to listen.
In keeping with British tradition and the solemnity of the setting, they showed much more reserve than the U.S. Congress does during similar addresses, breaking into applause only when Obama cited his unusual family story.
“The example of our nations says that it’s possible for people to be united by their ideals instead of divided by their differences; that it’s possible for hearts to change, and old hatreds to pass,” Obama said. “That it’s possible for the sons and daughters of former colonies to sit here as members of this great parliament, and for the grandson of a Kenyan who served as a cook in the British Army to stand before you as president of the United States.”
Read more at The Washington Post.