Speeches & Remarks

Rotary Southland Breakfast

Copenhagen, Bella Center

June 12, 2006

It is a real honor to welcome my fellow Rotarians from the southern part of America to Copenhagen. Helen and the girls and I have been here for about ten months and it is a wonderful country. There are, however, some things that one cannot find in this marketplace. So, if any of you choose not to take your present of "Southern Instant Grits" with you just leave them up here on this front table and we'll make sure they are put to good use here in Denmark.

Welcome to Denmark: The land where the Vikings come from, where Hans Christian Andersen conjured up the wonderful tales of the ugly ducklings and naked emperors that have thrilled kids for generations, where toilets have two speeds and where the flag and the monarchy are the oldest in the world, and where America enjoys one of its staunchest allies. My family and I have been in this country for ten months and arrived just prior to Denmark's worst international since WWII when it saw its embassies ransacked and its Prime Minister hung in effigy, it's ambassadors threatened and its flag burned. If you lived through that experience as we did in late January/February your response was probably the same as most Americans when you saw a country having its embassies attacked and it's flag burned. You know that country "must be a friend of America".

And in fact it is a great friend of America. My assignment by the President when we were asked to serve in this capacity last year was to find ways to hold Denmark up as an example of what great allies truly can do together, because this small country of five and a half million people is doing remarkable things in the world in the fight against terror, the fight for freedom, and the fight for humanitarian assistance. That's why just two days ago President Bush invited Prime Minister Rasmussen to Camp David, and I was honored to be there with him, to talk about what a great ally this country is and why we are honored to have the opportunity to serve here and to welcome you here to Copenhagen this week.

When I was in Washington for the Camp David visit on Saturday I was having coffee at a little sidewalk café in front of the Willard Hotel sitting underneath a Sycamore tree thinking about what to say to my fellow Rotarians. As I took a walk, I passed this fantastic bronze monument that's at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street. You probably have seen it, it's the beginning of the Extra Mile and Points of Light monument walk. I noticed a plaque inscribed to Paul Harris and it read "inspired by the simple idea of combining fellowship and service, Rotary International fulfilled Paul Harris' dream of a worldwide organization of business and professional people serving their communities and promoting international understanding." As I read the inscription in honor of Paul Harris it made me realize that what I should visit with you about this morning is how America's ambassadors help to fulfill that mission that Paul Harris so ably articulated, how America's ambassadors help to promote international understanding while at the same time promoting America's enduring foreign policy goals. So, for a few minutes this morning I think I will visit with you about that, what we as America's ambassadors do out here, outside the 50 states.

There are 139 of us by the way. American ambassadors across the world. Some 30 of us are what are called "political ambassadors" from the private sector, as I am. I have to admit having had no prior experience in diplomacy I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I was asked to serve at this post so I went to a good friend who was former ambassador to Barbados, Bonnie now serves as Chairman of the American Red Cross, and I asked Bonnie what to expect in this role. She said, "There are three things that an ambassador cannot do without, protocol, Geritol and alcohol." And I can tell you after 10 months she is right about that, but I would suggest to you that you stay away from number three because here in Denmark they have this thing called Aquavit. Has anybody discovered Aquavit yet? I will say if you had discovered it last night you probably would not be here this morning. So stay away from the Aquavit.

We have a mid-size embassy here of about 180 people, 13 different agencies from the American government present. In addition to the State Dept. we have the FBI and the Dept of Defense and Homeland Security, Dept. of Commerce and other and we do a variety of things here. In fact, I was amazed at how broad America's embassies are in their reach across the world. We arrived in August and after the first month I realized I needed to more fully understand what the mission of this mission was so we went on a retreat. I challenged all of our staff to help me to crystallize what the mission of this embassy is, to come to grips with what our priorities should be and what our focus and principles should be. We came out with a new and ambitious Mission statement which we announced on my 100th day here. I'll read it to you. It says "At Embassy Copenhagen we will work with our Danish and regional partners to initiate and pursue innovative, sustainable means to ensure global security, promote human liberty where it is threatened, relieve human suffering worldwide and advance the prosperity and safety of Americans at home and abroad." These are our four primary goals.

So for a few minutes let me tell you about what we do within the framework of each of these goals.

Goal number one: "Ensuring global security." Even before 9/11 America's symbols were threatened in the world. As you know we had attacks on our embassies in places like Beirut. We had attacks on our military ships like the USS Cole. We had attacks on our ambassadors, we had high-jackings of our airlines. Symbols of America have been targets for extremists and terrorists who don't like our values and who don't like what we stand for. These types are committed to destroying our way of life any way they can. And one of the symbols the terrorists like to target is America's embassies and ambassadors. In fact, much of my day is spent assessing the threats that occur to Americans overseas, Americans like you who travel places like Denmark, assessing those threats and working with our partners like Denmark to make sure those threats don't turn into actual harm to Americans. That is why the President appoints people like me to "wage a relentless battle against those forces of extremism, tyranny and terror that threaten America, our citizens and our values." So the family and I live in a world of 24-hour surveillance and armored cars and bodyguards and cameras which is a different world than I was used to growing up as a lawyer and a businessman and an "ice hockey man." I must tell you though that the bodyguards who are, of course, with me today as they always are, sometimes do come in handy. Let me tell you about the first day of our official presence here when we presented our credentials to the Queen. Denmark has a queen and we presented credentials to her in early August. A wonderful day, a beautiful day. It started out with a toast and a nice ceremony. We had media traveling with us all day. At the end of the day we went to Tivoli for a celebration. Anybody been to Tivoli yet? Wonderful, wonderful amenity here in this enchanted land. We had a celebration at an Italian Restaurant in Tivoli. My wife and two daughters and two houseguests joined me. If any of you have seen it, Tivoli has this terrible ride called the Tower of Terror where you go up about two hundred feet and you are dropped straight down. Anybody ridden that yet? Well, if you are over 40 you just don't like rides like that. I loved rides like that when I was younger, at the age you are but not when I became over 40 so I refused to ride that ride in spite of my daughter's urging. Our daughter, Cameron, who is 16 loves rides like that so she kept badgering me. She said, "Daddy, come on let's go ride it." I said, "no, no it has been a long day, a busy day, I am too tired." Finally, we finished the meal and she said, " Dad, let's go there and just look at it." I said, "I have had this big Italian meal, I really don't feel like going." She said, "Come on and let's just look." So we went down to the base of the tower where you buy tickets and from that perspective it looks even worse, so she was egging me on and I did what you would expect me to do on that occasion, I turned to the two bodyguards and you have to remember their sole purpose is to protect the ambassador. So I said, "Come guys, what do you think?" They looked at each other, looked back at me and said, "Frankly, we're not sure you're man enough!" So, that of course, was a great challenge to my manhood and I did of course have to ride that ride and I must confess in retrospect that it IS as bad as I thought it was. So that's goal number one. Ensure global security.

Goal number two: "Promote human liberty where it is threatened." The enduring necessity of that mission was made clear to me a few months ago here in this building. One afternoon about two o'clock I came here with my bodyguards in tow and witnessed an amazing thing. Grown men dressed in their best and probably only suits, families holding hands, standing in a circle, while their fathers and mothers dipped their hands in purple ink. Young women wearing traditional scarves to cover their heads, doing something they had never before in history been allowed to do. You see, those fathers and mothers and sons and daughters at the Bella Center that day were citizens of Iraq and they were here, most for the first time in their lives, to vote. Amidst the noise of suicide bombing, mosque attacks and insurgents strikes and bad news that we watch on television and read about in the papers every day, I will remember the old man with one leg and one arm who hobbled in to vote that day, a victim of Saddam Hussein's cruelty, a young woman in a beautiful headscarf who proudly cast her vote for her murdered grandmother and the two men, brothers apparently, who came up to me afterwards and asked permission to shake my hand and as they were doing so, asked me to "please thank America for them. "

As we grow impatient with our commitment in Iraq let us not lose sight of the fact that millions of Iraqis are seeing their dreams of freedom and liberty realized because of the sacrifices of American men and women and our allies like Denmark. You see, Denmark understands what it's like to have lost its freedom, because it wasn't that long ago that Denmark experienced its own form of tyranny. Denmark was occupied by Hitler's Nazis, when the midnight knock at the door might mean your brother or your father was being dragged away and shot. When children could be arrested for wearing the colors of red, white and blue because they were the colors of the allied forces. Denmark has never forgotten what it is like to have lost its freedom and has never forgotten that it was America and our allies who came to their rescue in 1945. The promotion of human liberty and freedom is a mission that is worth fighting for and it is a mission that is succeeding. In 1945 there were two dozen democracies in the world, in the 1970s there were about 40, today there are over 120. In 1982 there was no Arab country that had electoral politics, competitive elections or even the pretense of competitive elections. Today, there are 11 Arab countries that have some degree of democratic politics. Fighting for human liberty is a mission worthy of our faith and worthy of our patience.

Goal number three: "To relieve human suffering worldwide." This is a goal that Rotarians know about well. And you live it every day. Your commitment to eradicate polio is one of the greatest causes of any organization in recent history. Our efforts right now are focused on Darfur in the Sudan. We all know the terrible atrocities happening in that part of the world. Over two hundred thousand innocent lives have been lost there in recent months. America is now urging the UN to act in Darfur. Our visit with the President and Prime Minister last week included talks about Darfur and how we can get Denmark to help us encourage Europeans to become more active under the banner of the UN in Darfur. That goal of reducing and relieving human suffering is one of our primary mission objectives.

And our final goal: "Advancing the safety and prosperity of Americans at home and abroad." Advancing the safety of Americans. That is where our Consular Section, Dept of Homeland Security and the FBI help to protect you at home and while you are here in Denmark. "Promoting Prosperity of Americans." We become salesmen for America. Our job is to help promote America's trade and economic interests. There are 350 American companies who do business here in Denmark. That is a great example of America's commercial interests, but America has a two and a half billion dollar trade deficit with Denmark. A lot of our time is spent trying to help American companies promote their products overseas, to narrow that trade deficit. In fact, my first big speech was about trade. Let me tell you about that speech. It was in mid-August. I had been here for about a month and I was giving a major address on trade policy. That was right in the middle of the Doha round of WTO trade negotiations, the Hong Kong ministerial was commencing and we were trying to get Europe to increase their commitment to free trade around the world. The speech I was giving was a major speech. It had to be approved by the White House. It had to be approved by the Federal Trade Commissioner. I was giving it at a big meeting where I was joined by the Foreign Minister and a number of high level officials including the EU Agricultural Minister. My major address was scheduled for 9:00 that morning ... and at 7:14 that morning I got locked in the bathroom. I got locked in the bathroom at the residence of the ambassador. You have to imagine this. My first big speech, my first big public appearance in Denmark. I couldn't make a public appearance until I had presented my credentials to the Queen and she was on vacation for 4 weeks so the media was all there watching the ambassador give his first speech. So at 7:14 I got locked in the bathroom, and I couldn't get out. The residence is a very secure place. No amount of banging and yelling and screaming could get the attention of my family so I did what you would expect a man in my position to do. I jumped in the shower and sure enough about 10 minutes later my 16 year old daughter comes to the door and says, "Dad I'm leaving for school." I yelled, "Wait, wait, I'm locked in the bathroom!" So she goes to get her mother and her mother gets the house manager and he goes down in the basement to get the spare key and tries all of the keys. It's a skeleton key so I can see out and they can see in but we just can't get through the door. None of the keys worked no matter how hard they tried. Let's just say, to make a long story short, if you had been there at 7:42 that morning you could have joined my house manager and my wife and my two daughters and our two houseguests and the maid and the two bodyguards and the two gardeners and you could have watched the American Ambassador climb out of the bathroom window, on a ladder, backwards, with his boxer shorts on! What really made that story embarrassing was that my dear wife refused to allow Niels and Lasse, the two gardeners, to go get the ladder to press up against the window so I could climb out until she had the chance to go back inside and get her camera! True story. About my first big speech promoting trade and commerce. One of our big jobs.

In conclusion, I want to take you back to Washington this past weekend. After we finished our memorable trip to Camp David on Friday I did what I enjoy doing every time I go to Washington. I went out and had a "memorial run" through the visitor-clogged sidewalks of Washington DC. I start out at the Washington Monument and I jog around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial and then over to the Lincoln Memorial past the Korean Memorial and the Vietnam Wall and end up jogging past the White House and back to the Washington Monument. On Saturday I was making that jog and approached the south end of the Lincoln Memorial when I paused on the steps with the other thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of people there on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in June, many young people, many young people on school excursions. I paused and looked back at the sound of sirens approaching the Lincoln Memorial and, as we watched, a motorcade of 20 motorcycles followed by 2 black Suburbans with tinted glass windows, followed by an ambulance and two police cars, approached the parking area at the Lincoln Memorial. As we watched with eager anticipation, you could just feel the excitement of the crowd wondering who was going to emerge from that black Suburban. As we watched excitedly and with anticipation at its peak, a hush came over the crowd when the passenger door of the second Suburban opened and out of it emerged... not a president or premier, not royalty or riches and not a captain or a king, but a frail, young, dark-haired girl in a wheelchair...the recipient of the 2006 Make-a-Wish selection process. Her wish was to visit the memorials to America's greatness. "America is great," Alexis de Toqueville said, "because America is good. Once America ceases to be good, she will soon cease to be great." As the hushed and humbled young people watched in reverence while the young girl ascended the elevator to the foot of the shrine to the 16th President, I could not help but believe that they must be thinking the same thing I was thinking: that symbols like this wish granted by the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and simple acts of kindness, and little acts of compassion and tolerance are what makes America great. It is around acts like this that Rotary International is based, and upon which your tradition and reputation is built. America is great because of what you and organizations like you do. I am proud to be a Rotarian, proud to be a Paul Harris Fellow, proud to be in Copenhagen. God bless the work you do in Rotary International and God bless America.