Obama Going Nowhere Fast in Diplomacy

says Der Spiegel, a German paper.

Candidate Obama was received like a rock star in Germany. Now the reality seems to have set in, and that's worldwide.

Obama's Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage
(Gabor Steingart, 11/23/09 Der Spiegel)

"When he entered office, US President Barack Obama promised to inject US foreign policy with a new tone of respect and diplomacy. His recent trip to Asia, however, showed that it's not working. A shift to Bush-style bluntness may be coming.

"There were only a few hours left before Air Force One was scheduled to depart for the flight home. US President Barack Obama trip through Asia had already seen him travel 24,000 kilometers, sit through a dozen state banquets, climb the Great Wall of China and shake hands with Korean children. It was high time to take stock of the trip.


"Barack Obama looked tired on Thursday, as he stood in the Blue House in Seoul, the official residence of the South Korean president. He also seemed irritable and even slightly forlorn. The CNN cameras had already been set up. But then Obama decided not to play along, and not to answer the question he had already been asked several times on his trip: what did he plan to take home with him? Instead, he simply said "thank you, guys," and disappeared. David Axelrod, senior advisor to the president, fielded the journalists' questions in the hallway of the Blue House instead, telling them that the public's expectations had been "too high."

"The mood in Obama's foreign policy team is tense following an extended Asia trip that produced no palpable results. The "first Pacific president," as Obama called himself, came as a friend and returned as a stranger. The Asians smiled but made no concessions."

In Japan, the new DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan) administration had pulled out of the refueling mission for the Afghan war (although they will pay billions of dollars to the U.S. in exchange), and the relocation of a Marine base remains a highly contentious issue which Obama's visit didn't help solve in any way.

In China, according to the article, Obama even allowed himself to be at the joint press conference with the Chinese president, in which questions from the press were forbidden. He has nothing to offer to the Palestinians and the Syrians, as Israeli prime minister has rejected his call for a complete moratorium on settlements.

The article says that Obama may start adopting a tougher stance, to avoid being perceived as another Jimmy Carter. Already the signs are there in abundance. None of the Bush-era security and anti-terror measures (warrant-less wire-tapping, Guantanamo, etc.) has been cut back or repealed, and his administration is adding more. Just about the very first thing he did upon becoming the president (Day 4 to be precise) was to authorize bombing of Pakistan. On this trip to Asia, he started to use the same rhetoric as his predecessor, regarding Iran this time:

"An end to diplomacy is also taking shape in Washington's policy toward Tehran. It is now up to Iran, Obama said, to convince the world that its nuclear power is peaceful. While in Asia, Obama mentioned "consequences" unless it followed his advice. This puts the president, in his tenth month in office, where Bush began -- with threats. "Time is running out," Obama said in Korea. It was the same phrase Bush used against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, shortly before he sent in the bombers. [emphasis is mine]

"There are many indications that the man in charge at the White House will take a tougher stance in the future. Obama's advisors fear a comparison with former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, even more than with Bush. Prominent Republicans have already tried to liken Obama to the humanitarian from Georgia, who lost in his bid to win a second term, because voters felt that he was too soft. "Carter tried weakness and the world got tougher and tougher because the predators, the aggressors, the anti-Americans, the dictators, when they sense weakness, they all start pushing ahead," Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker in the House of Representatives, recently said. And then he added: "This does look a lot like Jimmy Carter.""

Not that I buy Newt Gingrich's assessment of Carter. I do see that President Obama is increasingly perceived as a good talker (i.e. he can speak unmangled English, unlike his predecessor) and a good brand, but not much more. If you call anyone who sees him as such as "predators, agressors, anti-Americans, dictators" as Newt is doing, it looks like almost the entire world is the enemy of the U.S.

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