Why Obama? Reason 3

He knows the U.S. can't solve the problems of the world alone.

That sounds like a big duh, but the approach of the current Bush administration seems to base its international policies on exactly the opposite premise. The U.S. helps, the U.S. ignores, or the U.S. punishes, but the U.S. does not work collaboratively. Not with other countries. Not with the U.N. Not with the NGOs. And they've made it seem unpatriotic to want to work with others, including international organizations, to help solve the world's problems.

Barack Obama has taken quite a bit of flack for suggesting that sitting down and talking to the people who oppose the U.S. and its policies—people who even hate the U.S.—is a good place to start. Open the doors. Look to diplomacy. He never said to do that unconditionally, although he's been criticized as if he had said it. Obama has made the point that we can't ask other heads of state to agree unconditionally to become democratically ruled countries, embracing the principles of the U.S. Constitution, before we agree to sit down and talk to them. "Hold democratic elections," our President is supposed to say, "and then we'll talk. With the winner." Yeah, that'll work. Did we do that with the Saudis? I don't think so.

The rules of diplomacy of the last 8 years haven't worked very well, have they? Time for new rules. Obama knows a little about diplomacy. Being a community organizer on Chicago's South Side probably taught him a thing or two about getting people at war with each other to sit down at the table.

Remember, very little progress was made in the search for peace in Northern Ireland until the warring parties sat down at the table together and talked.

Barack will talk. Good for him.