UN Reporters Share Undecided Views on New Administration

The new buzzword within the United Nations since US President Barack Obama took office is “multilateral.” Multilateral cooperation is the defining feature of new US relations with the UN, according to statements made by Susan Rice, the newly appointed US ambassador to the UN.

“President Obama’s view is clear, that our security and well-being can best be advanced in cooperation and in partnership with other nations. And there is no more important forum, for that effective cooperation, than the United Nations,” said Rice in a statement to the UN on January 29, 2009.

Yet on a recent visit, numerous United Nations reporters said they have an overall undecided view on the new US relations with the UN under the Obama administration.

With the backdrop of the Security Council screen and the 15 flags of the nations involved with the Security Council, UN reporters stand behind a metal pole in front of a wooden podium and microphone. Reporters gather here for monthly meetings regarding relations in the Middle East and weekly meetings on security issues around the world, recently including the situation in Darfur and Sri Lanka.  

            Over 250 correspondents have office space at the UN. In the midst of the changing administration, UN reporters said in interviews that they see the day-to-day changes and hear the conversations around the shifting US relations with the UN.

            “Obama wants to make the UN more prominent,” said Matthew Lee, a UN blogger for Inner City Press. “At the same time, the UN may be overly optimistic.”

One of Lee’s observations is that Ambassador Rice has not been very accessible to reporters. She often takes only three questions during press engagements, according to Lee.

            The irony lies in that former UN Ambassador John Bolton under the Bush administration often attended UN meetings but had an anti-UN reputation, said Lee. Now under the new administration, Rice supports multilateral US cooperation with the UN, but she has started off as being less accessible to the press, said Lee.

            Other UN reporters believe it is too early to tell about definitive changes in the UN, even with Rice’s initial inaccessibility to the press.

“If people aren’t around, it doesn’t mean they aren’t informed,” The New York Times' reporter Neil MacFarquhar said. Rice has not been here long enough for anyone to make conclusions about US relations with the UN under the new Obama administration, he said. A change in mood is evident under Ambassador Rice, whose stance on the UN differs from the anti-UN sentiment of the Bush administration, said MacFarquhar.

Overall, no conclusive changes have been established in US cooperation with the UN in the first three months of the Obama administration. It seems like the general consensus is that the future may provide some answers about the possible changes in the US-UN relationship.