Can Obama persuade world on nuclear arms?

By Steve Holland - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. presidents for decades have sought nuclear disarmament. Now Barack Obama is bringing his "Yes we can" idealism to the goal.

Will his effort be any different from past attempts? Some experts say yes, because he is making it a centrepiece of his foreign policy.

Ronald Reagan called for the abolishment of "all nuclear weapons." Reagan and subsequent presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all pursued American and Russian reductions in Cold War stockpiles of nuclear warheads.

But the prospect of having the security that possession of a nuclear weapon may provide is tantalizing, not to mention the ability to eliminate enemies with one mushroom cloud.

Britain, France, China, India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea also have nuclear weapons, and Iran is suspected of wanting to join the club, along with militant groups who would love a nuclear bomb to attack the people they hate.

"So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," Obama said on Sunday in Prague.

"I'm not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly, perhaps not in my lifetime," Obama said. "It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, 'Yes we can.'"

Nuclear policy experts said Obama's policy appeared to go beyond that of past presidents.