The Obama Magic Hasn't Lasted

Between the 2008 speech before a crowd of enthusiastic Berliners and the one delivered on June 19 in front of the Brandenburg Gate, the contrast could not be more striking. Five years ago, a radiant Barack Obama was conveying the dream of a new America. Today, he is but the tense face of a superpower in crisis whose strategic withdrawal is perturbing the Europeans.

Ever since John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, Berlin has been a magical place for all American presidents; the city symbolizes the universal message of freedom spread by the United States. In Obama’s case, it’s a harsh realization: The magic only worked when he was still just a presidential candidate. Whoever raises impossible hopes pays a heavy price.

The speech at the Brandenburg Gate mirrored the deception personified by the American president at the start of his second term. Forced to touch on controversial subjects that trouble public opinion, particularly in Germany, such as the increasing use of armed drones, the continuation of Guantanamo prison or the hacking of private Internet transmissions, Obama promised that he would find the “right balance” between the demands of freedom and security. He couldn’t have been more on the defensive.

Beyond the rhetoric, it is White House foreign policy which is called into question. The G8 showed how Obama struggles to impose his views. Whereas he invested greatly in order to build up a relationship of trust with Dmitri Medvedev, Vladimir Putin’s return to prominence totally jammed the relationship with the Kremlin, as demonstrated by the altercation regarding Syria at the G8.

In fact, the president takes little interest in foreign policy. Barack Obama’s priority is getting the American economy going again, a prerequisite to returning to a more active foreign policy. International issues are dealt with depending on their impact on home affairs, hence this extreme reticence to become involved in military operations. This prevailing climate in Washington is illustrated by the book by Richard Haass, a former senior official in the State Department, entitled “Foreign Policy Begins at Home: The Case for Putting America’s House in Order.” According to him we must expect, after the failure of the Iraq war, a lasting eclipse of American diplomacy….