Soeren Kern puts things in perspective in his essay at Pajamas Media, "The Obama Doctrine: Europe 1, America 0":
There's more at the link.U.S. President Barack Obama’s debut in European summitry has been good for Europe but bad for America. While a highly deferential Obama gave in to all of the negotiating demands established by the Europeans, the Europeans in turn exploited Obama’s naïveté and refused to concede to any of his. Indeed, Obama not only allowed the Europeans to set the agendas of the recent G-20 and NATO summits, but in his zeal to curry favor with the Europeans, Obama even apologized for American primacy. Obama’s diplomatic philosophy, which seems to put the interests of other countries ahead of those of the United States, could be called the “Obama Doctrine.” If it is carried out in practice to its logical conclusion, it will have the long-term effect of gradually transferring U.S. geopolitical power and influence to Europeans and other American rivals.
Obama started his trip to Europe by proclaiming that “I would like to think that with my election, we’re starting to see some restoration of America’s standing in the world.” He then legitimized European anti-Americanism by saying that the United States was sorry for wrecking transatlantic relations, as if the Europeans were innocent victims of U.S. oppression; Obama told an audience of 3,000 giddy European students that “America has been arrogant and has even ridiculed” its European allies. Later, Obama followed up by declaring that “I believe in a strong Europe,” even though European integration is at base a project that seeks to counterbalance American power on the global stage. Obama topped it all off by offering pacifistic Europeans a utopian vision of a world free of nuclear weapons.
Maybe Obama thought his new “smart power” approach to U.S. diplomacy would woo his European counterparts into reciprocating their love for America. But defiant European leaders shunned Obama’s romantic advances, insisting instead on a redistribution of global power.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the international economic order dominated by the United States was finished. “The old Washington consensus is over,” Brown declared. “I think a new world order is emerging with the foundation of a new progressive era of international cooperation,” he said, referring to an incipient globalism that seeks to demolish American sovereignty.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that Europe would no longer follow America’s lead on setting the global economic agenda. Sarkozy and Merkel called for a “new financial architecture” that would subject the U.S. financial system to European regulation. They added that their demands were not negotiable.
See also, John Hinderaker, "The Apology Tour: Will It Ever End?" (via Memeorandum).
Plus, don't miss William Jacobson's, "When Will The Europeans Apologize To Us?"
10 comments:
Given my observations over the last 30 years of the misplaced derision many Europeans hold toward this nation, and further given that I am among the few that understands just how close the Allies came to losing WW II, I sometimes lament the fact that Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union instead of consolidating his holdings in the Mediterranean.
Had he done so, the Europeans who now speak so ill of us would most likely still be living under the tyranny of the Third Reich, reinforced for decades to come by its Soviet allies.
As for Merkel and Sarkozy, they obviously (and quite rightly) sense serious weakness in Obama, as well as a sharp decline in the future economic viability of America, while at the same time ignoring the fact that the EU is swirling in the bottom of the loo right along with us.
There is a global power shift currently under way, but the EU will not be in a position to benefit from it. Sadly, Russia, China, Iran, and now apparently North Korea, will.
Given the major foreign policy missteps on the part of Obama since January 20th, especially with the launch of yet another Nork rocket, I suspect there are people deep in the bowels of the Kremlin who, in between bowls of borscht and huge gulps of vodka, are laughing hysterically.
The Obama "presidency" is rapidly shaping up to be a major disaster in both the domestic and foreign policy arenas, the extent of which just might exponentially surpass the disaster that was Jimmy Carter.
God help us all.
-Dave
Dave,
You prove Obama's point.
Obama's criticism of casual anti-Americanism in Europe was also on the money. Not all Americans think like you and so America as a whole does not deserve to be derided at every turn, as it has indeed done good things.
Interesting that you to wish Adolf Hitler had won the war...
Consider that the same German scientists that helped NASA reach the moon would instead have been building ballistic missiles to send nukes into America, which Hitler would surely have waged war on because he considered America morally reprobate, much in the same way hardline conservatives in America regard their domestic opposition.
Oh and there'd be no Israel... and a lot fewer Jewish people. But I guess that doesn't bother you at all.
I never lament that fact, Dave. I often lament the fact that fascist-sympathizing morons like you elected W twice.
I'm not American but I hope I may comment: Wasn't it enough of the second world war already? Sure, without the USA the Europe would looks so much different today. But that was more than 60 years ago.
I wouldn't mind some new order, if that meant that the system had some checks and balances against the credit crisis.
Julie
O God it will suck so hard for America if anyone starts to like us I mean cuz if pollatishins in other countries can just like do pro-America stuff without having to justify it to their constituents then how do we even know who to bribe?
As a European, peace supporter who loves America, I am surprised and disappointed at this article and Dave's comment.
The article labels Europe as one of America's rivals, rivals for what prize? There are no rivals, who thinks like that? Obama is advocating global peace. How could that ever be negative? America needs a bit of good PR and to strengthen its foreign relations.
Yes thanks very much for the helping hand at Pearl Harbour, and you can thank the brits for helping out with the ridiculous war on Iraq, that was a great idea.
You say you view a sharp decline in America's future economy? Perhaps Obama rightly thinks it's time to stop being a bully and waging war on oil-rich countries to secure cheap crude?
Life is not a power struggle, there is no great prize, Obama wants to create a more peaceful world and a happier, healthier America. I hope e is successful, it's going to be tough.
For once we can be proud to have a president that not only can articulate and speak good English but can elicit flag waving instead of flag burning.
America's enemies are going to miss not having Bush to kick around any more.
The Nazis winnng WW2 wouldn't have necessarily meant victory for Germany. Internal strife and corruption probably would have destroyed it anyway. The Europeans might have needed our help, but we needed theirs too. It's silly to attempt equivocations like this because there are too many variables for any degree of certainty.
Obama's actions, however, are much more of a certainty. He has raised taxes that directly affect those people he claims to want to help. He has bowed to Saudi royalty (and Bush was an idiot too for holding hands with him). He has dismissed charges against the terrorists who attacked the USS Cole. He has appointed a man in the DOJ who advocates applications of Islamic Sharia law to American legal cases (the same Sharia law that Muslims hide behind to protect them when they abuse women or attack non-Muslims).
He isn't as articulate as you might think, because without the teleprompter he's lost, evidenced by frequent stammering and the inability to answer pointed and unexpected questions. One of the lessons regarding public speaking that I learned in GRAMMAR school was that any moment where you heard 'um' or 'uh' was a glaring signal to the listener that the speaker had no confidence in what he was saying, and quite possibly no clue about what to say. Obama is a severe repeat offender.
To compare Bush and Obama is unfair on many levels, and complaining about Bush is just a Democratic ploy to divert your attention from the way the Democrats are running roughshod over the American people: printing billions of unsupported dollars and increasing inflation, giving away yours and my hard-earned tax dollars to people who have already proven that they cannot be trusted with money, promising greater transparency but not delivering, Pelosi demands a chartered plane for herself, Burris shouldn't have a Senate seat, more than half of Obama's cabinet appointees 'forgot' to pay their taxes, and VP Joe Biden swears on national TV regularly; this goes on and on and on. These people have duped America into believing that they care about the average citizen, when every action taken has been for their own self-aggrandizement.
Please keep in mind that I am not saying all of this in support of Republicans or W. I am an independent, and I get mad at both the Elephants and the Burros; we suffered under the Conservative mindset and now it's time to suffer under the liberal mindset. Either way we suffer because they are all rich and all completely apathetic to the condition of the common citizen. Stop believing their crap and call them on it, otherwise this is all we're going to get from them. All politicians are the same...please do not think that they are really any different just because they spell their names differently.
Obama is lost without his teleprompter. Everything he does has to be scripted and told in front of him. Otherwise, he does things that he should not have done, like apologizing for America, though there is nothing to apologize or to be servile by bowing down almost kissing the foot of the Saudi king, etc. America wake up! A destructive entity is in the white house.
Clearly, it is much wiser for the U.S. to be strong than well-liked; the fact being, America will NEVER be liked by the majority of the world. Forsaking the core individulist characteristics that are in the DNA of our poltical culture will not garner popularity. Instead, we will be begging for others' mercy.
We Americans have such short memories. We just as easily forget our great ability for compassion, as we do blundering foreign policy of the past. Of this, I refer to the 400 and-some-odd-day debacle known as the Iran hostage crisis. This never seems to be as horrid as the Bush administration's foreign policy in the eyes of a certain contingent in this nation. One which prefers weakness over action, even if ill-planned.
The U.S. needs to clean it's own financial house before worrying if we are on the European Union's cocktail party guest list. Truth is, even with as charming a guest as Obama, America will never find its name on that list. Not unless we throw the party ourselves.
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