Even the Politico slams Obama's Asian trip
The Politico, hardly a conservative outlet of political opinion, offers a devastating analysis of Barack Obama’s trip through Asia.
You can read the article for yourself, but here are a couple of highlights:
Obama’s minimalist approach was most consequential in China, where he did not meet with Christians, dissidents or bloggers, or directly challenge his hosts for repressive tactics that are again on the rise.
The Chinese in turn rebuffed longstanding U.S. concerns – whether on human rights, Iran or currency policy – in a heavily stage-managed visit where China, not Obama, clearly sought the upper hand.
It’s an approach that carries great risk for Obama – playing straight into his critics’ accusations that his new, more multilateral style isn’t paying dividends, and worse, is making him look weak and ineffectual abroad.
and
But there were substantive problems as well. An early test drive of Obama’s policy of engaging rivals and adversaries around the globe suffered a setback Wednesday, when Iran defied Washington and rejected a United Nations call for the regime to send enriched uranium abroad for processing, which would inhibit the building of nuclear weapons.
David Axelrod’s apologia for Obama’s international subservience and weakness not withstanding, most of the world – and certainly our enemies and competitors – simply had their view of Obama as a paper tiger (or a paper kitten) reinforced by his gutless jaunt through Asia.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Rossputin on 11/20/09 at 04:21:33 am . Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. |
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11/20/09 @ 09:03:08 am
If one reads the full article, the "highlights" you quote are balanced by some experts' opinions that are not nearly so derisive.
This one from the comment section will make your blood boil:
Stephen M. Walt Professor of International Affairs, Harvard :
It’s pretty hard to lay down the law in Beijing when China owns over a trillion dollars in U.S. assets, when the U.S. economy is limping along, when the American military is still waging two losing wars, and when one of our two political parties is relying on Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh for intellectual guidance.
Until we get our house in order over here, we shouldn’t expect China to be especially compliant with our wishes, or expect them to view the “American model” as especially appealing. The follies of the past eight years were the greatest gift the United States could ever have given Beijing, and Obama is now dealing with the consequences.
Tee-hee...
on an unrelated topic, I appreciate your analysis of the befuddling financial markets. (Not a single Obama slam in the entire article!!!???)
11/20/09 @ 09:08:44 am
Mark,
First, do you homework on Professor Walt. He is not to be taken seriously.
Second, Walt does have a point about China's owning of US debt, but his trying to blame Bush and insulate Obama from our government's massive overspending is ridiculous.
11/20/09 @ 09:46:42 am
Professor Walt's comments were only submitted for entertainment value as I imagined you reading them.
There are some other foreign policy wonks cited in the article and in the Arena forum on the Politico site whose views are more flattering of the trip. (And some others who are not.)
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
11/20/09 @ 09:51:34 am
Prof. Walt is such a scumbag that it sullies these pages even to quote him.
You are right that some later stuff in the article isn't as negative.
But would you not agree that articles about Obama in most mainstream blogs and media tend to put all the puffery first? Just the fact that the negative stuff is first makes the article negative overall, in my view.