Power: Change ‘your slice of the world’

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations on Sunday said she thinks the country “cannot afford to choose” between solving problems at home and solving problems abroad.

{mosads}“We live in a world that cannot afford to do without the moral voice, the clarion vision and hopeful promise of America and the American dream,” Samantha Power said Sunday at the University of Vermont’s commencement.

Encouraging the class of 2014 to change “your slice of the world,” Power said the U.S. needs to work to solve problems abroad, such as the use of chemical weapons in Syria and the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, despite also having to address problems at home.

Though “it is tempting to believe we do not have the time, the resources or the bandwidth to address problems over there when we have so many right here. … We live in a world where what happens overseas has a direct impact on us here.”

“We do not have to choose, and we cannot afford to choose, between here and there,” she said.

While noting that the U.S. “not the world’s policeman,” Power said it has an obligation to “act” and “lead.”

“The stronger we are at home, the stronger will be leading abroad,” she said.

“And the more peaceful and prosperous the world is, the better off you and the American people will be over time.”