U.S. must remain a superpower, OU's David Boren says

A question Boren once posed to a Rhodes Scholar finalist also inspired him to write the 120-page book scheduled for wide release Thursday.

"How long,” he asked the student, "do you think the United States will continue to be the world's leading superpower?”

The student, who'd easily answered all other questions, fell silent.

"He just seemed stunned by the question,” Boren said.

The OU president now hopes "A Letter to America” will get more people to give serious thought to where the country is heading.

Boren was governor of Oklahoma in the 1970s and was a U.S. senator from 1979 until 1994, when he resigned to become OU's 13th president.

He thinks the United States can remain a world power if its politicians do a better job of working together and with other nations.

"The influence of the United States is going to be desperately needed for centuries to come,” Boren said. He wrote that the nation must do several things to regain strength and retain its status, including:

•Share the financial and human cost of fighting terrorism and maintaining world order through international partnerships.

•Stop the deficit spending that many predict will bankrupt the country.

•Find a way, perhaps by constitutional amendment, to keep special interests from buying elections and driving up the cost of politics.

•Make sure citizens know U.S. history and their own political freedoms.

"We need to have a national conversation,” he said. "I don't have all the answers, and this book doesn't pretend to have all the answers.

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