The President Comes Home

There were things not to like about the President’s maiden voyage abroad:

• He assumed American responsibility for sour relations with the French and Germans over Iraq, blaming the U.S. invasion. But they deserved the opprobrium of the United States for failing to carry out UN Resolutions to which they were signatories, France pulling a bait-and-switch on Secretary of State Powell, and later admitting that officials in both governments were profiting from the Oil for Food scandal. French and German behavior, as much as ours, resulted in the chill.

  
  There were things not to like about the President’s maiden voyage abroad:

  • He assumed American responsibility for sour relations with the French and Germans over Iraq, blaming the U.S. invasion. But they deserved the opprobrium of the United States for failing to carry out UN Resolutions to which they were signatories, France pulling a bait-and-switch on Secretary of State Powell, and later admitting that officials in both governments were profiting from the Oil for Food scandal. French and German behavior, as much as ours, resulted in the chill.

  • In Turkey, he pressed for full Turkish membership in the European Union – not an organization in which the United States has a vote, and a slap at the French and Germans with whom he had just made nice.

  • He gave away a lot to the Russians “on the come,” so to speak and didn’t get anything back that we could see.

  • He said quite a lot about Islam, and a lot about his desire to have good relations with countries in which Islam is the chief (or only) religion. He talked to them about American slavery and torture, but nothing about the intolerance bred in Islamic countries toward the freedoms and diversity that Americans cherish. He did all that in Turkey – a constitutionally secular country with an historic tolerance for religious minorities.

  On the other hand (there is always another hand):

  • He did get some (small and grudging) help for Afghanistan and his view of a solution to the global economic crisis.

  • As Turkey and Armenia slowly maneuver toward full diplomatic relations, he declined to repeat comments he made as a candidate. Two sovereign states should discuss their shared history and their future.

  • Fully aware that he was carried live on al Jazeera, he reminded the Arab and Muslim world that Israel is not “behind all the problems in the Middle East.”

  On the third hand:

  • The President was extremely informal with the sovereign of America’s best long-term ally (you’re not supposed to touch the Queen of England) but bowed deep and long to a despotic Saudi king.

  • The rhetoric about continuing missile defense, voiced in the Czech Republic where the pro-American government fell over the stationing of radars, rang hollow in light of the “proven and cost effective” caveat on its deployment and the North Korean missile launch that took place while he was talking.

  • He repeated his “two state solution” to the Arab-Israel conflict and told his “Jewish friends” that they need to look at the conflict through the eyes of the Palestinians – a false symmetry that bodes very ill for the future.

  And, finally, a fourth hand:

  • Visiting American soldiers in Iraq, President Obama finally acknowledged that what they are doing there is important, and their sacrifices and their victory should not be squandered for a campaign pledge inconsistent with his responsibilities as Commander in Chief. They cheered and we were ready to cheer too as he told them, “Under enormous strain and under enormous sacrifice, through controversy and difficulty and politics, you’ve kept your eyes focused on just doing your jobs. You have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country.”

  Yes they did. And for his acknowledgement of their extraordinary strength, perseverance and capabilities, we are grateful.