Posted by
ColoMike on Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:57:24 PM
Among countless other things, President Obama promised us improved foreign relations once his Shining Eminence replaced that evil George Bush in the White House. We now have several examples of his diplomatic skills, including his Trash America tour, and can now begin to address the question, "How's that working out for you, Mr. President?" Here's a list of his accomplishments.
- On March 2, 2009 President Obama tried to broker a secret deal with Russia in which we would give up plans to build missile defense systems in eastern Europe in exchange for Russian cooperation in dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat. He was rebuffed. The net result is that his administration was not able to keep an important secret and eastern European countries are more skeptical about working with the U.S. How's that for improving international relationships?
- On March 11, 2009 President Obama signed a bill that canceled a
pilot program allowing Mexican trucks to operate in the U.S. This
affected less than 100 trucks and no safety issues had been reported.
Mexico retaliated by placing tariffs on 90 U.S. products. That's how we treat our third largest trading partner.
- Great Britain has generally been considered our strongest ally. President Obama has communicated through protocol and rhetoric that this is no longer the case. Prime Minister Brown was given a much lower level of regard during his March 2008 visit than the Bush administration afforded Prime Ministers Brown or Blair. Michelle Obama's hug of Queen was in questionable taste. Then there were the throughtless gifts given to the Prime Minister (DVDs) and the Queen (an iPod loaded with Obama's speeches). Obama has said that words mean something; let's hope the British don't think that actions also mean something.
- The bow. On April 1 President Obama greeted the Saudi king with a bow. If this was appropriate, the White House would have said so. Instead, they denied it was a bow. By lying, they acknowledge it was a mistake.
- President Obama went to the G-20 with hopes of getting more economic stimulus money from the international community. He was turned down.
- President Obama went to a NATO meeting with hopes of getting more combat troops for Afghanistan. He was turned down and given security and training personnel instead.
- While President Obama was giving a speech about eliminating nuclear arms, North Korea was mocking him by launching a long range missile.
- President Obama wanted a binding U.N. resolution to condemn North Korea's missile launch. This should have been a routine matter since the launch clearly violated prior agreements. Instead, he got a much weaker nonbinding resolution. Nice going.
- In response to the weak U.N. resolution, North Korea asked international inspectors to leave and broke the seals on their nuclear facilities, effectively reversing all gains that had been made in prior negotiations. Obama once again proving that he isn't George Bush.
- President Obama announced easing of restrictions of family visits and financial gifts with Cuba. Fidel Castro dismissed this as a minimal step. See what being nice can do?
- Among other criticisms, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said President Obama has the same "stench" as former President Bush. How's that for an improvement?
- On March 13, 2009 Chinese Premier Wen Jiaboa warned President Obama about the perils of his spending plans.
- On March 25, 2009 Czech Prime Minister Topolanek called Obama's financial plans the "road to Hell". Great endorsement.
- Obama's Treasury Secretary confused financial markets by sending mixed messages on a global currency proposal in March. Not exactly clear and decisive.
- Signals from the U.S. and Europe that they were willing to make significant concessions to get Iran to the bargaining table have met with some acceptance from Iranian President Ahmadinejad. He responded by saying that the U.S. has reached out to negotiate from a position of weakness.
- On April 16, the Justice Department released memos detailing CIA interrogation techniques used on terrorists. This will provide an authoritative official source that can be referenced in future Al Qaeda training manuals.
- There has been considerable international pressure to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. One of President Obama's earliest actions was to announce it would be closed in a year. France is one of the few countries that has stepped up and supported this effort; they are willing to accept one detainee. How's that for putting your money where your mouth is?
- Until recently, Spain pursued the possibility of legal action against six former Bush administration officials related to alleged torture at Guantanamo Bay. They aren't taking any of the detainees but considered prosecution for their treatment! While some may argue this is about the former administration, it represented a current action against the U.S., with Obama as president. Does Spain love Obama or what?
- Despite four attempts, President Obama has yet to find an ambassador to the Vatican that is acceptable to the Pope. It appears that although he can count the likes of Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, Rod Blagojevich, and Rashid Khalidi among his friends, he doesn't know anyone who is pro-life.
- On 4/4/09 he created a new language - Austrian. I'm sure the German-speaking country of Austria will be glad to know this and his international popularity will motivate them to adopt it. After it is created.
- It appears that Gaffe-amatic, which produced Joe Biden, also manufactured Hillary Clinton. There was the mislabeled "Reset Button" she presented to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. There is her question in Mexico about who painted the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe (the answer, "God"). In Beijing she de-emphasized the significance of human rights in negotiating with the Chinese, reducing the Obama administration's credibility on this subject. She mispronounced Russian President Medvedev's name. She referred to EU foreign policy chief Solano as "High Representative Solano" and EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner as "Benito". In Brussels she said American democracy predates European democracy. At one meeting she went around the room shaking everyone's hand - including the doorman. Maybe Obama was right during the primaries to belittle her foreign affairs credentials.
- Finally, there is the recent tour to Europe and Iraq. President Obama stirred much controversy with several of his comments, criticizing our country and the Bush administration, saying the U.S. isn't a Christian nation, and making conciliatory remarks to Muslims in Turkey.
So, what has changed? True, foreign public opinion polls are better for Obama than they were for Bush. However, foreign leaders continue to make decisions based on their own national interests, as they should. Typical of Democrats, President Obama treats enemies better than allies. His initial forays into international politics have appeared arrogant, naive, and amateurish. He is well-liked but ineffective and his ineffectiveness may be because he has emphasized being likable. So far, his administration's foreign affairs efforts have been closer to a disaster than to a success.