President Barack Obama told a United Nations audience that when poorer countries look for U.S. foreign aid, they better have long-term development and anti-corruption plans in place as a condition for the giving.

Obama said a new U.S. global development policy will focus on achieving results to help poor nations in the long term as opposed to simply tallying the money donated.

The outlook doesn't sound like anything new to me. I can't recall a president ever saying he was going to throw money at a poor country out of the simple goodness of his heart. As far as I can remember, in recent administrations, the goal has always been to help countries become self-sufficient.

However, Obama's 20-minute speech to the 192 UN members emphasized that nations that could show they promote growth from within -- in business, agriculture and technology -- would be the ones to get a financial helping hand from the United States.

Obama's announcement might be viewed as a tightening of the donation purse strings by some, and for good reason: The global economy, which is led by the United States, is a mess.

While some economists have said the U.S. recession is officially over, I dare them to go out and make that argument to the legion of unemployed workers and credit-strapped Americans looking for work.

While I won't call the notion exactly groundbreaking, I give Obama credit for stating the new reality that overshadows the world of international giving: Times are tough all over, so be ready to help yourself.