I want to say something to my friends around the world.
I have friends in Europe. Friends in the Middle East. Friends in Asia. Friends all over this planet.
And I know sometimes America can come across like the loud guy at the party who thinks everybody needs to hear his opinion.
We’ve certainly earned some of that reputation.
But here’s what I believe:
So goes America, so goes a good part of the world.
Like it or not, the United States has enormous economic, military and cultural power.
But I think we’ve misunderstood what real power is.
Real power isn’t getting another country to do something because they’re afraid of you.
Real power is getting them to do something because they want to be like you.
Imagine an America that says:
Look at our democracy.
Look at our infrastructure.
Look at our schools.
Look at our healthcare.
Look at how we treat working people.
Look at how we disagree with each other—and still live together.
Look at how ordinary citizens participate in their government.
That’s leadership.
We don’t have to lecture the world about democracy.
We can demonstrate it.
We don’t have to force our values onto other countries.
We can make those values so successful that other people want them.
And maybe America’s next great chapter isn’t about dominating the world.
Maybe it’s about inspiring it.
Because the most powerful country on Earth shouldn’t have to constantly tell everybody how great it is.
We should build something so damn good that the world can see it for itself.
That’s the America I want us to become.
Not a country the world fears.
A country worth emulating.
That last contrast — “not a country the world fears, a country worth emulating” — is the line I’d build the whole video around.
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