So, I'm pretty floored at how a lot of news outlets seem to have come to an early concensus that Obama's European tour is a disappointing step backward for the US.
(See this CNN piece by Zakaria:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/04/03/zakaria.g20/index.html)
But you know how the media seems to get it wrong here in the US, and how opinion polls keep showing Obama's strength?
I think the same thing is happening, even with some of this international news coverage.
I found a piece from the CSM that is very positive, and thoughtful.
If you find positive reviews of Obama's trip, please post!!
Here are a couple quotes from the CSM piece:
In London, in a last-minute compromise that many called historic, the White House got far more stimulus to relight the global trade economy than many thought possible. However, at NATO's 60th anniversary here in Strasbourg, he may not get more troops for Afghanistan – though the new "Afpak" review indicates such troops are needed even for the civil building that Europeans say will aid in "mission accomplished" there.
But the "Obama in Europe" storyline runs deeper than a difficult diplomatic checklist that includes Russia, Iran, North Korea, and the global crisis, say political thinkers here. It has to do with a Europe that, for 40 years, and in significant strides, has sought to speak with one voice.
For almost a decade, Europe and America, tied by history, drifted apart in terms of stated values and policy. But with an avowedly liberal internationalist at the US helm, Europe has less to complain about. Ahead of his visit, in inconclusive meetings in Brussels, there was uncertainty and bickering. What's causing stress in the European Union is not US badgering and unilateralism, but the Obama dynamic of moving toward agreement, concensus, and multilateralism, say some economists and political scientists.
In other words, contrary to some analysts, Obama is accumulating more US influence at the same time that the Europeans are become less united.
"President Bush was an extraordinary catalyst for Europe, a bogeyman. Even people with diverging views on economic and foreign policy were united against the US policy," says Karim Bitar, a Paris consultant and scholar at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations. "But now the US can no longer be accused of all the world's ills. The truth is, Europeans now think more about America than about Europe. There is no European consensus on the most basic questions of our future, what we should be. Under Bush, we could evade them. Not now."
Some in Europe were strongly denouncing Obama's economic prescription just prior to his trip... it's interesting, that they seem more docile when he's actually in the room, lol.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0402/p06s13-wogn.html