The Message: The U.S. Is Back in the World
Obama’s agenda for the next few days is filled with international talks, but his presidency is still mainly focused on the homeland.
The Afghanistan conference is a side matter. America only gained real interest in Europe when President Barack Obama landed in London, his first big foreign trip. Americans like to gloat over the image of the Obamas as international superstars. Comfort in tough times.
No one will be surprised when the trip finally ends up as only a footnote in the history books, Reginald (“Regi”) Dale says. The former British journalist who is now established at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think-tank in Washington, is a beloved spokesperson for the American media these days. Dale likes to ridicule the idea that Obama is the “savior.” Europeans especially are surprisingly vulnerable to that misconception. They forget that Obama is the first president in decades who has hardly had any experience in Europe. “Europeans love him more than he loves Europe.”
There are many such misconceptions that dampen expectations. Although Obama’s agenda is fully booked with international meetings, so far during his presidency he has concentrated almost completely on the homeland.
Of course, where Afghanistan or Iran are concerned, he follows the international path of his election campaign. But the heart of his agenda – exterminating the financial crisis – he approaches “as if the U.S. is in a cocoon,” Dale says.
Seldom Understanding
Rarely does Obama express understanding for French or German skepticism of large government investments, and seldom does he openly give attention to the global nature of the crisis. Because of that, protectionism – “buy American!” – sneaks into his policy. According to Dale, Obama would “truly show leadership” if he would use the G20 summit in London to explicitly turn against that idea – and with that, against his own supporters.
“America has always been a champion of the free market, and leaders like Merkel and Sarkozy have a large difference of opinion with the U.S. in that respect. Nothing would be worse than to revive protectionism. The U.S. should stay true to its own history now.” Bu will that really happen? “Unlikely.”
In Obama’s circles, they follow the opinion of Nobel Prize-winner Krugman, columnist and blogger for The New York Times, who says that Europe undermines the American economic stimulus plan because it contains too few stimulation measures.
“The story in Europe is that the financial crisis is an American problem,” says John K. Glenn of the German Marshall Fund (GMF), responsible for Transatlantic Trends, a yearly survey among the American and European populations. “But everything points to the fact that the crisis in Europe is as great as it is here.”
Agreement Unlikely
Glenn does confirm that an agreement at the G20 summit on the stimulation policy is unlikely. Moreover, a confrontation between Obama and Germany and France would disrupt the most important goal of his trip.
The best Obama can therefore accomplish is a global agreement on improved supervision. According to Glenn, “for America, the most important thing this week is to show Europe that we are back in the world, that we are reviving relations.”
Some followers of the president have wondered the last couple of months why Obama has not yet used his popularity in Europe for personal appeals for more European solidarity in Afghanistan and for the closure of Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo).
Despite extensive efforts, Americans diplomats did not succeed in securing extra European troops for Afghanistan; The Hague conference did not bring any change in that department yesterday. In addition, American requests for the reception of released Gitmo prisoners hardly got any response in Europe.
It is unlikely that Obama will use the NATO and E.U. conferences, later in the week, for calls like these. In the power play of large countries, summits are only for arranging final details. In short, it is clear that the president will attain little in these two areas.
Mitigating Circumstances
In terms of Afghanistan, there are two mitigating circumstances. Everything indicates that Europe will expand its non-military efforts in Afghanistan. Moreover, it remains to be seen whether Obama’s government – especially Secretary of Defense Robert Gates – is waiting for extra European troops in the south.
European troops have their own national lines of authority and each work according to a separate mandate. “Within the armed forces, there is a lot of frustration regarding European troops in Afghanistan, especially because of the many restrictions,” Jeremy Shapiro of the Brookings Institute says. “They don’t mind that there will be no additional European troops.”
The last stop in Obama’s journey – Turkey – contains the least risks for the president. In choosing to visit Turkey at this time, Obama not only confirms Turkey’s place in Europe, but he also emphasizes that democracy and Islam can go hand in hand. Ian Lesser, an expert on Turkey with the Council on Foreign Relations, says, “It sends a message to Europe: Turkey is not in the Middle East.”
During the election campaign last year, Obama learned from Hillary Clinton that politics is a game of expectations. If you lower your expectations, the results will always work out. In that respect, the meager prospects of Obama’s trip will not be detrimental for him personally.
“Sure,” Regi Dale says. “But will the results actually mean anything?”
I wonder what role the media plays in how the world sees Obama. I think that Obama is set up by the media for people to have the opinions we do about him, at least in the US. I was listening to a great podcast of The Joan Kenley Show, called The Media: What’s True, What’s Not that made a really good point about how the media will set up arguments, issues, and even people as distractions. For instance, they’ll debate an issue in the media just to make it look like it’s been debated, but all the answers and questions are set, and nothing real is ever talked about. I think that Obama is like that, like a distraction to make us feel like something is being done. I guess I’m still skeptical about this change.