Obama: U.S. Should Not Impose Its Values Abroad

The United States should not impose its values on other countries, but those same countries should embrace "universal" values like democracy and freedom of speech, President Obama said in an interview as he prepared to travel to the Middle East.

The president, who leaves Tuesday night for Saudi Arabia, said he will encourage those principles while abroad this week. He will deliver a speech at the University of Cairo in Egypt on Thursday, and then head to Europe.

"The danger I think is when the United States or any country thinks that we can simply impose these values on another country with a different history and a different culture," Obama said in an interview with the BBC that aired Monday.

Obama's opponents have criticized him for appearing to apologize for American policies and behavior while overseas. On Monday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- a possible Republican presidential contender in 2012 -- scolded the president for his "tour of apology."

While Obama seemed to suggest in his BBC interview that America has wrongly attempted to force its principles on other nations, he also argued that other nations should want to adopt those principles without coaxing.

"Democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of religion -- those are not simply principles of the West to be hoisted on these countries, but rather what I believe to be universal principles that they can embrace and affirm as part of their national identity," he said.

Obama told the BBC the best thing the United States can do is to serve as a "good role model." He said that's why he wants to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

Click here to read the full story from the BBC.