MR. President, Barack

Bono wrote an open letter to the new president of the USA, Mr.Barack Obama.

"Mr. President, Barack. Every room I have ever been in with you was a much easier room for your presence. It’s rare to meet a person like you, where intellect and intuition make such a perfect rhyme. Your intuition tells you that the well-being of the American people, spiritually as well as physically, is connected with America’s role in the world.
I know you know that the prosperity of your fellow Americans, though hard fought, is less fulfilling knowing there is so much more that can be done to alleviate poverty and suffering in the developing world.
You know that less than one per cent of government income as a contribution from the world’s richest economy to the world’s poorest is not a fair tithe — even in times like these — which is why you have promised to double foreign assistance.
As with our own personal sojourn, so it is with country and community we discover who we are in service to others. I know your intellect has weighed up the evidence on how effective American tax dollars are, when converted into smart, targeted, focused aid.
Putting children into school where they can think freely of freedom. Giving farmers on the parched land seed varieties that double the size of their crop yields.
Giving mothers 20 cent immunisations to protect their newborns from the deadly viruses they pass on through childbirth.
I know your intellect has taken in the data and seen the analysis on the transforming power of effective aid in places where the flag is currently not one smiled at.
I know you know how much cheaper it is to make friends of potential enemies than to defend yourself at a later date. I know you know all this stuff.
My prayer for you is that your instinct and intellect stay in harmony in the difficult months and triumphant years ahead"