Political Quotes

“Mr. President, you and I have had the blessing of traveling to South Africa together, so I know you know, as I do, that it is a critical nation, not just on its own terms as a country of 70 million people of a multilingual, multifaith, multiethnic democracy working to achieve the incredible promise enshrined in its Constitution, working to achieve the vision of a liberation struggle, but it is also a country that is critical to regional security and for the path of the globe and to the security and stability of democracy in this century. This is why I stand to speak briefly on behalf of my friend, Reuben Brigety, the nominee to be our next Ambassador to South Africa, whose confirmation we will take up in just a few moments. Reuben is someone I admire deeply. He attended the Naval Academy, served in the U.S. Navy, was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State both for African Affairs and for Population, Refugees, and Migration. I met him as Ambassador to the African Union, knew him well as dean of the Elliott School at GW. He took on the challenge of service as the president of the University of the South, better known as Sewanee; and now our President has nominated him to represent us in South Africa. As we have seen in recent votes and actions at the United Nations and in discussions and debates around the world, African countries--in this moment, during this war in Ukraine, in the face of Russia's aggression--are turning away from us.…”