Obama Charms French Citizens
U.S. President Barack Obama urged countries around the world on Friday (April 3) to move promptly to combat global warming.
Obama has arrived in France for a summit celebrating the 60th
anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), but is
also trying to win endorsement of his new Afghanistan strategy from
both senior officials and citizens.
The strategy broadens the focus to include Pakistan and puts the
highest priority on the defeat of al Qaeda militants. (Looking to engage
sceptical Europeans in the war, Obama said they were more threatened by
al Qaeda than America.)
"We all know that time is running out," Obama told a U.S.-style
town hall meeting in the French city of Strasbourg. "America must do
more, Europe must do more."
....
"This is a mission that tests whether nations can come together in
common purpose on behalf of our common security. That's what we did
together in the 20th Century, and now we need an alliance that is even
stronger than when it brought a might wall in Berlin," he told his
audience at the Rhenus Sports Arena.
He charmed the audience with banter and laughter, chatting with audience members before they asked questions.
An unidentified female audience member asked Obama if he ever regretted running for the presidency.
Joking at first that his wife Michelle asks the same question, he encouraged the young audience to participate in politics.
"Get involved. And it does mean that sometimes you'll get
criticised and sometimes you'll fail and sometimes you'll be
disappointed. But you'll have a great adventure and at the end of your
life hopefully you'll be able to look back and say, 'I made a
difference'," he said.
Obama has been greeted like a hero by the crowds in Strasbourg.
The warm reception has stood in stark contrast to the often cold
welcome reserved for his predecessor, former President George W. Bush,
who was hugely unpopular on this side of the Atlantic thanks largely to
his decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
running out
being finished, decreasing in amount; exhaustion, being used up; moving outdoors quickly
might
n. strength, power, force; bravery
banter
v. joke, tease, converse in friendly manner
laughter
n. act of laughing; sound which expresses amusement (or scorn, etc.); cheerfulness, mirthfulness
stand
v. be upright
on one's feet; get up; place upright; rise; stop, halt; become
stagnant; remain; endure, tolerate, bear; be at a certain height or
level
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment