Restore Our Country's Image

Robert C. Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, is the longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate, and has given advice to every President since Dwight Eisenhower. He is the author of Letter to a New President: Essential Lessons for Our Next Leader. Here is his advice for President-Elect Obama.

From Reader's Digest

Read more memos to President-Elect Barack Obama.

Understand the art and value of diplomacy, new President.

You will have to invest major energy in restoring America in the eyes of the world. We must banish the image of the disingenuous bully, with one standard for our own behavior and a different one for everyone else's. The President is our Ambassador Supreme and he must restore an image for our country that reflects the character of the American people—tolerant, kind, fair, and willing to use force as a last resort, never a first. Consult often with our allies. We live in a global economy, with a growing international interdependency, and just because the job will be hard and require great patience and diligence does not make it any less necessary.

From Reader's Digest - January 2009

• Barack Obama
• • U.S. Presidents
• Presidential Inauguration

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