Obama Speech: Todos somos americanos

Which means... "We are all Americans" and is a rallying cry for some in Brazil, or I am told.

I'm surprised it hasn't been covered more here, but Obama made an important speech on American foreign policy in Miami to a group of conservative Cuban-Americans who are strongly anti- Castro. My post is more or less a rehashing of the excellent post and analysis at the field, which also has some background documents from our beloved Al Giordano's Narco News.

The speech itself was pretty brilliant. Obama has a page on his policies, bullet points, and so on on this page.

What strikes me about this speech is the underlying message that we are all Americans -- and our foreign policy needs to acknowledge that what is in the best of working Americans is the same as what's in the best interest of Haitians, Colombians, Mexicans, and Cubans.

The paragraph that will probably catch the most attention:

And we must tap the vast resource of our own immigrant population to advance each part of our agenda. One of the troubling aspects of our recent politics has been the anti-immigrant sentiment that has flared up, and been exploited by politicians come election time. We need to understand that immigration – when done legally – is a source of strength for this country. Our diversity is a source of strength for this country. When we join together – black, white, Hispanic, Asian, and native American – there is nothing that we can’t accomplish. Todos somos Americanos!

This kind of pan-American populist call is a pretty bold new direction for American foreign policy, I'd say.

Sorry so short -- tips should go to Al Giordano; if you like this post, read his blog and send him to Denver!