“Now we have the US with us” - Europe on Sec of State Clinton

[sabra]

http://blogs.ft.com/brusselsblog/2009/03/now-we-have-the-us-with-us-europe-on-clinton/

So, that’s it, folks, Hillary Clinton has wrapped up her first visit to Brussels as US Secretary of State, and now she’s off to Geneva for a session of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

What struck me most about Clinton’s visit to Europe was, first, how eager the Europeans were to stress that Europe and the US are singing from the same songsheet on a whole range of issues, now that Barack Obama is in the White House; and, secondly, how Clinton did nothing to pour cold water on that notion.

One of the most obvious examples is the fight against climate change, where Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Union’s external relations commissioner, went so far as to say: “Now we have the US with us.”

You could say that some of Clinton’s reassuring remarks in Brussels - “A strong Europe is a strong partner for the United States” - were just platitudes. But everything needs to be put in perspective. When George W. Bush was in the Oval Office, when Dick Cheney was vice-president and when Donald Rumsfeld was at the Pentagon, the Europeans felt unloved and to some extent unwanted.

[biopowertoday]

1. She will continue to do the US proud.