OBAMA CHARM IS WEARING THIN….PAM MEISTER

Posted By on November 2nd, 2009

Europe’s Obama Thrill Turns to Disappointment

Posted By Pam Meister On November 2, 2009 Charm, it seems, can only get you so far. Despite Europe’s initial wild reception of Barack Obama, the anti-Bush, and the bestowing upon him of the most prestigious of Euro-lib awards [1], the Europeans still seem to expect action from a sitting U.S. president.

Understandably, the Czech Republic and Poland were among the first to be disenchanted with the “new direction” in America when Obama decided to scrap the missile defense shield [2] that George W. Bush had promised them. In Poland, President Lech Kaczynski expressed concern [3] that Poland is now left in a dangerous “gray zone” between Western Europe and the former Soviet sphere, while ex-Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek was dismayed because [4] the U.S. is “not interested in this territory as they were before. … It’s bad news for the Czech Republic.”

Then we had French President Nicolas Sarkozy deriding Obama’s “no nukes” dream as “naive,” saying [5], “We live in a real world, not a virtual world. The real world expects us to make decisions.” And it’s been said [6] that Sarkozy thinks Obama is “incredibly naive and grossly egotistical.” When the French begin criticizing your ego, perhaps it’s time to take a step back and reevaluate.

Who can forget the snub the UK received? One of Obama’s first acts as president was to return the bust of Winston Churchill [7] that was on extended loan to the White House from the British government’s art collection. It was sent to George W. Bush shortly after 9/11 and had a place of honor in the Oval Office. Obama further thumbed his nose at the Brits when he canceled a joint press conference in the Rose Garden when UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to town in March — because of snow. For well over a century, there has been a special relationship between the U.S. and the UK, but it seems that’s gone the way of the Churchill bust. But as Toby Harnden of the UK Telegraph noted at the time [8], “Mr. Brown might lament that despite the so-called ‘special relationship’ Britain is now getting the same treatment as the president of Uruguay but he need not despair. I’m told there’s a chance he might get drinks with Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday evening.”

Germany is now entering the fray, with this editorial [9] in Der Spiegel entitled “Obama Must Provide Better Leadership in Afghanistan”:

Obama’s silence stands in contrast with the impassioned rhetoric that carried him into the White House. He risks squandering the biggest advantage of his term in office: the serious attempt to make an honest assessment of his predecessor’s legacy. It also represented a great opportunity to restructure the Atlantic alliance. But why should countries like Germany and France believe the verbose promises of a president who is not even sending a clear message at home, even though he has a majority in both houses of Congress?

There is no doubt that hardly a day passes in Europe without criticism of U.S. policy. This has become a trans-Atlantic ritual. But despite this ritual, Europeans are still looking for one thing from the White House: leadership.

We’re waiting, Mr. President.

One wonders, perhaps, if German ire might have been enhanced by Obama’s decision to skip [10] that nation’s 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It was an interesting choice, considering he had time to run to Copenhagen to push for the Chicago Olympic bid — not to mention that he passed up on a visit to Normandy [11] back in April because he was worried about offending Germany while seeming to give special treatment to France.

The U.S. takes up much of the slack for European defense, leaving those nations free to spend that leftover money on their cradle-to-grave social programs. For example, according to 2003 figures, the offset of defense costs [12] due to U.S. troop stationing is nearly 33 percent in Germany, nearly 58 percent in Spain, and in the UK nearly 28 percent (and it’s nearly 75 percent in Japan). Yet European elites continued to grumble about our “high-handedness,” with matters coming to a head during the Bush administration. So their initial excitement over an Obama administration surprised few.

What is standing out today is that Europeans, despite griping for the past eight years that the U.S. took too much upon itself, still expect the U.S. to take a prominent leadership role in international matters. Remember the movie Independence Day [13]? Toward the end, Jeff Goldblum’s and Will Smith’s characters discover how to blow up one of the gigantic alien ships that are hovering around the earth and threatening to destroy all humanity. The news goes around the world and we hear a British soldier exclaiming that the Americans have figured out a solution; another one says, “It’s about time!” Sure, it seems egotistical, but frankly, it’s true.

But for how long?

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